'U'- 


85 — Cutler  (Ephraim).  Life  and  Times  of: 
prepared  from  liis  journals  and  corrt'spond- 
ence,  by  his  daughter,  Julia  P.  Cutler.  With 
bios,raphical  sketches  of  Jervis  and  Wm. 
P.  Cutler.  8vo..  ports.,  354p.  Cinci.,  1890. 
Ephraim  M^as  the  worthy  son  of  Manasseh 
Cutler;  his  papers  relat-  to  Ohio  affairs 
from  1795  to  1853,  the  Ohio  Co..  Mariettn 
settlement,   War  of   1812,   etc_^.^^4^^ 


^M 


Eng  ^byAHSitcnie 


JQI®(BE  [EP^[a[^ADra   (DIUT[LE[K, 


OHIO  VALLEY  HISTORICAL  SERIES. 


Rot  ert  Clarlffi  ^  C°  Publisliers  .CinciniLatL ,  0 . 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


OF 


EPHRAIM   CUTLER 


'tTiE.T'ARED    PROM    li'S 
I  V      -        <       J  t 


JOURNALS  AND   CORRESPONDENCE 


BY    HIS    DAUGHTER 


JULIA   PERKINS  CUTLER 


WITH    BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES    OF 

JERVIS  CUTLER  AND  WILLIAM  PARKER  CUTLER 


CINCINNATI 
ROBERT    CLARKE    &    CO 

1890 


COPYRIGHT,   1890, 

By    ROBERT    CLARKE    &    CO. 


PREFATORY. 


After  the  lapse  of  many  years,  it  is  not  easy  to  collect 
the  materials  for  authentic  history  or  biography.  The 
fragments  which  compose  the  "  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler," 
were  gathered  for  preservation  at  the  suggestion  of  his 
son,  William  P.  Cutler,  whose  lamented  death  occurred 
before  the  work  was  finished ;  and  it  has  been  a  sorrowful 
task  to  complete  it  without  his  advice  and  supervision,  the 
lack  of  which  will  account  for  many  deficiences. 

The  great  changes  this  century  has  produced  make  it 
desirable  to  preserve  some  account  of  the  conditions  of 
life,  here  in  the  West,  during  the  early  years  of  our  his- 
tory— conditions  that  have  now  passed  away  forever.  It 
is  also  well  to  note  the  facts  connected  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  Ohio  as  a  state,  and  the  introduction  of  those  sys- 
tems of  state  policy,  which  have  contributed  so  much  to 
its  prosperity.  It  is  hoped  that  the  life  and  services  of 
Ephraim  Cutler,  a  true  patriot  and  sincere  Christian,  will 
not  be  thought  unworthy  of  permanent  record. 

A  short  memoir  is  added  of  Jervis  Cutler,  one  of  the 
original  forty-eight  who  composed  Putnam's  band  of 
pioneers  that  began  the  settlement  of  Ohio,  April  7,  1788. 

The  sketch  of  the  life  and  character  of  the  late  William 
Parker  Cutler  was  written  by  E.  C.  Dawes,  of  Cincinnati. 

Marietta,  0.,  May,  1890.  J.  P.  C. 

(3) 


-V     I    l*-!. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Sketch  of  Manasseh  Cutler — Early  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

1795  to   1799 — Journey  to   Ohio — Marietta — Waterford — Salt- 
making  17 

CHAPTER  III. 
Settlement  at  Ames — School  Lands 35 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Territorial  Legislature — The  ('onvention 52 

CHAPTER  V. 
1803    to    1812 — Surveying — Removal    to    Warren — Droving — A 

Diary— War  of  1812 83 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Earthquakes — Flood  of  1813 — Legislature  of    1819-20 — School 

Commissioners 108 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Services  in  the  Ohio  Senate — 1823-1825 139 

CHAPTER  VIIL 
Ohio   University — Tenth   Presidential   Election — Agricultural 

Address 176 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Roads — Marietta  and  Chillicothe  Turnpike — Baltimore  and  Ohio 

Railroad— 1837-39 206 

CHAPTER  X. 
1837-1853 — Visit    to  New  England — Presbyterian   General  As- 

SE.MBLY — Historical  Association — Letters — Conclusion 229 

(V) 


vi  Contents. 

Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Major  Jervis  Cutler 272 

Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler 280 


APPENDIX.  , 

Terkitort  of  the  United  States  North-west  of  the  Eiver  Ohio — 

Circular 319 

Speech    of  ,Hon.   W.  P.  Cutler   in    the    Presbyterian   General 

Assembly,    May,  1857 321 

Speech  Before  the    Military  Meeting    of  Washington    County, 

IN  the  Court-house,  Marietta,  on  Saturday,  July  19,  1862...     326 

Eemarks  of  Hon.  W.  P.  Cutler  at  the  Twenty-fifth  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Collegiate 
AND  Theological  Education  in  the  West,  held  in  the  Con- 
gregational Church,  Marietta,  0.,  November  9,  1868 333 

Partial    List  of    Published  Addresses  and    Papers   of  William 

P.  Cutler 341 


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LIFE  OF  EPHRAIM  CUTLER. 


CHAPTER  J. 


Sketch   of   Manasseh    Cutler — Early   Life   of  Ephraim 

Cutler. 

At  the  earnest  request  of  my  dear  children  I  am  induced 
to  place  on  paper  some  sketches  which  relate  to  our  fam- 
ily, and  to  my  own  personal  history.  I  am  disposed  to 
yield  to  their  importunity,  as  it  is  probably  the  only  way 
they  can  become  acquainted  with  many  things  which  it  is 
natural  they  should  desire  to  know.  I  have  had  rather  an 
eventful  life,  which  I  now  have  leisure  to  reflect  upon, and 
to  record  some  of  the  events  I  have  witnessed  and  the 
scenes  through  which  I  have  passed. 

The  Cutlers*  are  of  Puritan  ori^ciu.  and  came  to  Massa- 


*  The  first  of  the  family  who  came  to  America,  was  James  Cutler, 
from  Norfolkshire,  England.  He  settled  in  Watertown,  Massachusetts, 
with  his  wife  Anna,  in  1634.  She  died,  and  was  buried  September  30, 
1644,  after  which  he  married  Mary  King,  widow  of  Thomas  King,  of 
Watertown,  and  removed,  in  1651,  to  Cambridge  Farms  (Lexington), 
where  he  lost  his  second  wife,  and  married,  in  1662,  Phebe  Page, 
daughter  of  John  Page.  He  had  four  sons  and  eight  daughters,  and 
died  May  17,  1694,  aged  eighty-eight  years,  leaving  a  good  estate. 

James  Cutler,  eldest  son  of  the  preceding  James  and  Anna  Cutler, 
was  born  in  Watertown,  November  6, 1635.  He  married  Lydia  (Moore) 
Wright,  widow  of  Samuel  Wright,  and  daughter  of  John  Moore  of 
Sudburj'.  They  resided  in  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  and  had  five 
sons  and  two  daughters.  He  was  a  soldier  in  King  Philip's  War,  and 
died,  July  31,  1685,  aged  fifty  years. 

John  Cutler,  fourth  son  of  James  and  Lydia  Cutler,  was  born  in  Le.x- 
ington,  April  14,  1675.     He  married   Hannah  Snow,  of  Woburn,  Feb- 

(1) 


2  Life  of  Epliraim   Cutler. 

chusetts  a  few  3'ears  after  its  first  settlement  by  the  En- 
glish people.  About  eight}'  years  later,  my  great  grand- 
father, John  Cutler,  removed  with  his  family,  in  the  year 
1713,  from  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  to  Killingly,  Connec- 
ticut. It  was  then  a  new  country,  with  but  few  Avhite  set- 
tiers,  and  still  inhabited  by  many  Indians.  He  had  pur- 
chased, as  early  as  1706,  a  large  tract  of  land  on  the  east- 
ern,i)order  of  ffiUii^s'ly.  The  surveys  at  that  time  were 
ofte'n'  incoM'eeliy  made,  sometimes  overlapping  on  other 
/rciaivAsl^thiTt^iaccisivhii'^g  much  trouble  and  expense.  He 
made'his'homS'i'iI  th^  center  of  his  purchase.  When  the 
boundary  between  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  was 
finally  established,  the  line  passed  directly  through  his 
house.  My  grandfather  had  a  right  to  lands  in  Kliode 
Island  which  were  disposed  of  since  my  recollection. 

My  grandfather,  Hezekiah  Cutler,  the  third  son  of  John 
Cutler,  was  born  in  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
was  baptised  April  20,  1707.  He  married  Susanna  Clark, 
December  5,  17-34.  In  manners  and  mental  cultivation 
she  was  superior  to  most  of  her  sex  at  that  period.  They 
both  united  with  the  church  in  Killingly,  Connecticut, 
where  they  resided.  Their  children  were:  1st.  Meheta- 
bel,  wIkd  married  Simon  Lee ;  2d.  Hannah,  who  died  in  in- 
fancy ;  3d.  Manasseh,  my  father  ;  4th.  Ephraim,  a  very 
promising  young  man,  engaged  in  mercantile  business  at 
Killingly.  He  was,  to  the  great  grief  of  his  parents  and 
friends,  thrown  from  his  horse  and  killed.  May  21, 17(J6,  in 
the  twenty-second  year  of  his  age.  otii.  Hannah,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  six  years. 

My  father,  Manasseh  Cutler,  was  born  in  Killingly,  May 
13,  1742.  His  mother  devoted  much  of  her  time  to  in- 
structing her  children,  and  early  cultivated  in  them  a  love 
of  learning.  It  was  proposed  to  educate  Manasseh  for  a 
physician,  and  he  was  placed  under  the  instruction  of  the 
liev.  Aaron  Brown,  in  order  to  obtain  a  sufficient  knowl- 
edge of  Latin  to   enable  him  to  study  medicine.      Mr. 

ruary  6,  170U,  and  removed  from  Lexington  to  Killingly,  Connecticut, 
1713.  They  had  four  sons  and  seven  daughters.  lie  died  in  1729, 
aged  fifty-four  years. 


Life'' of  Ephraim   Cutler.  3 

Brown,  at  that  time,  was  preparing  his  step-son,  Joseph 
Howe,  for  admission  to  Yale  College;  and  it  was  decided 
that  my  father  should  also  take  a  full  collegiate  course. 
Thev  were  entered  Freshmen  at  Yale  in  1761,  and  hoth 
acquired  a  high  standing  in  their  class,  and  were  gradu- 
ated in  1765. 

While  at  college,  in  examining  some  books  lately  added 
to  the  library,  he  found  among  them  an  early  publication 
of  Linnteus,  on  botany,  which  attracted  his  attention. 
The  interest  it  excited  probably  influenced  the  studies  of 
his  after  life.  It  was  a  new  iield  for  scientiflc  research, 
and  he  deyoted  much  time  to  botanical  investigations. 
Few,  if  any,  scholars  at  Yale  or  Harvard  had  at  that  time 
given  the  subject  any  attention.* 

After  he  graduated,  he  made  a  visit  to  some  of  his 
mothers  connections,  in  Hedham,  Massachusetts,  where, 
for  a  time  he  engaged  in  teaching;  and  where  he  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Mary  Balch,  eldest  daughter  of 
the  Key.  Thomas  Balch,t  flrst  pastor  of  the  South  Church 
Dedham,  whom  he  married.  Not  long  after  this,  he  re- 
moved to  Edgartown,  Martha's  A^ineyard,  for  the  purpose 
of  closing  up  a  mercantile  concern,  and  settling  a  large 
estate  which  had  belonged  to  Colonel  John  Xewman,  the 
first  husband  of  my  mother's  aunt,  known  to  me  as 
Madam  Metcalf.t  Mv  father  had  u-iven  some  attention 
to  tlie  study  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 


*  '■  M.  Cutler  wrote  an  account  of  the  vegetable  productions  of  New 
England,  in  ITSo,  probably  the  first  essay  of  a  scientific  description." 
New  Am.  Cyclopedia. 

J  Eev.  Thomas  Balch  was  born  in  Cliarlestown,  Mass.,  October  17, 
1711,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1733.  Ordained  pastor  of 
South  Church,  Dedham,  June  30,  1736;  and  married  Mary  Sumner,  of 
Roxbury,  October  11,  1737.  lie  was  sixteen  months  a  chaplain  in  the 
army  sent  against  Louisburg,  Cape  Breton,  in  the  Old  French  War. 
After  a  useful  ministry  of  nearly  thirty-eight  years,  he  died  at  Dedham, 
January  bs,  1774,  aged  sixty-two  years.     Durfee's  Cent.  Dis.,  1836. 

;{:  Madam  Metcalf  Avas  Hannah  Sumner,  born  May  8,  1715.  She 
married,  first,  John  Newman,  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1740,  and 
died  at  Edgartown,  1763.  She  married,  second,  Jonathan  Metcalf, 
Esq.     She  died  about  1798,  leaving  a  valuable  estate. 


4  Life  of  Ephraim    Cutler. 

pleaded  a  few  eases  in  the  Xorfolk  county  courts.  But 
he  was  strongly  impressed  that  it  was  his  duty  to  devote 
his  life  to  the  ministrations  of  the  gospel,  and  having  ac- 
complished the  business  he  had  undertaken  at  Edgartown, 
he  returned,  in  1769,  Avith  his  famih',  to  Dedham,  and 
pursued,  with  his  excellent  father-in-law,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Balch,  the  study  of  theology.  Two  years  later,  he  was 
invited  to  settle  at  Ipswich  Hamlet,  now  Hamilton,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  he  was  ordained,  September  11, 1771.  He 
was  the  successor  of  the  venerable  liev.  Samuel  AViggles- 
worth,  then  lately  deceased. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Xew  England  clergy  (except 
those  of  the  Episcopal  order)  Avere  among  the  most  earn- 
est supporters  of  the  Revolution,  and  did  more  to  keep  up 
the  spirit  of  liberty  than  any  other  class.  This  was  true 
of  my  father,  who  watched  with  great  solicitude  the  ap- 
proach of  the  conflict.  When  the  news  came  of  the  battle 
at  Lexington,  he  made  a  short  address  to  his  parishioners, 
and  joined  them  in  their  march  to  meet  the  enemy,  and 
during  the  time  the  British  occupied  Boston,  he  was  often 
at  Cambridge  to  encourage  his  neighbors  and  friends  in 
the  arduous  contest.  In  177(:),  he  was  commissioned  by 
the  Massachusetts  council  chaplain  to  tlje  regiment  of 
Colonel  Ebenezer  Francis,  detailed  for  the  defense  of  the 
town  and  harbor  of  Boston.  He  was  also  chapkxin  to 
General  Titcomb's  brigade  at  the  siege  of  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  in  1778.  A  number  of  regiments  of  New  England 
militia  joined  General  Sullivan's  army  in  this  campaign, 
and  none  of  them  were  more  distinguished  for  bravery 
and  a  high  personal  character  than  the  Essex  county  vol- 
unteers— man}'  of  whom  were  merchants  who  were  then, 
or  have  since  been,  among  the  wealthiest  and  most  re- 
spectable citizens  of  the  country.  From  the  failure  of  the 
French  fleet  to  co-operate  with  the  Continental  forces,  the 
campaign  was  unsuccessful,  and  General  Sullivan,  after 
some  severe  fighting,  withdrew  to  the  mainland.  A  pair 
of  handsome  silver-mounted  pistols,*  taken  from  the  en- 

*  These  pistols  were  given  bj'  Dr.  Cutler,  in  1817,  to  his  grandson, 
Colonel  Charles  Cutler,  late  of  Athens  county,  Ohio. 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  5 

eiuy,  were  presL'utod  to  iiij  fatlior  by  the  officers  of  tlie 
brit>-a(le.  His  ministerial  duties,  and  the  claims  of  his 
family,  with  slender  means  of  support,  obhged  him  to  re- 
tire from  the  army. 

Like  that  of  most  ministers  of  liis  day,  my  fVither's 
salary  was  small,  and,  in  order  to  provide  for  his  family, 
he  opened  a  school,  which  he  continued  to  instruct  for  a 
number  of  years,  in  which  many  valuable  men  were  pre- 
pared for  usefulness  in  the  world.  In  addition  to  the 
scholars  who  pursued  the  course  of  studies  usual  in  such 
schools,  he  prepared  a  number  of  young  men  to  enter 
college,  others  he  aided  in  the  study  of  theology,  and  to 
very  many,  who  afterward  became  skillful  sea-captains,  he 
taught  the  art  of  navigation.  His  remarkable  affability 
gained  him  the  love  of  his  scholars ;  his  dignity  of  deport- 
ment, their  highest  respect ;  and  all  conspired  to  the  suc- 
cess which  distino-uished  this  school. 

In  1786,  the  Ohio  Company  was  formed,  of  which  he 
was  one  of  the  most  active  promoters.  Many  circum- 
stances led  him  to  think  of  providing  a  settlement  for  his 
family  in  some  new  country.  I  am  not  acquainted  with 
the  facts  that  led  him,  in  the  first  instance,  to  turn  his 
attention  to  the  Ohio  valley,  but  he  had  read  all  that  the 
early  French  explorers  had  published  of  that  region. 

General  Washino'ton,  in  familiar  conversation  with  his 
officers  in  a  most  gloomy  period  of  the  war,  had  pointed 
them  to  the  Ohio  and  the  land  on  its  borders  as  an  asylum 
from  their  enemies  where  they  could  enjoy  freedom  and 
competence.  This  probably  influenced  a  number  of  the 
ofticers  of  the  army,  in  1783,  to  prefer  a  petition  (which 
was  accompanied  by  a  letter  from  General  Washington) 
to  Congress  for  the  purchase  of  lands  in  the  Ohio  Coun- 
try. This  design  was,  however,  frustrated  by  the  dis- 
banding of  the  army  before  a  purchase  was  made,  and  be- 
fore Congress  had  made  any  regulations  respecting  the 
survey  or  disposition  of  their  lands.  The  flrst  important 
measure  adopted  toward  bringing'  the  lands  north-west  of 
the  Ohio  into  market  after  the  treaty  of  peace,  signed  at 
Paris,  September  3,  1783,  was  the  recession  to  the  states 


6  Life  of  Ephraini  Cutler. 

of  the  Union  of  all  claim  (with  certain  conditions)  which 
the  States  of  Connecticut  and  Virginia  had  to  soil  and 
jurisdiction  north-west  of  the  Ohio  river.  The  next  was 
to  adopt  a  general  plan  for  surveying  the  lands  in  ranges, 
beginning  at  the  Pennsylvania  line  ;  the  ranges  to  run 
north  and  south,  and  then  dividing  the  ranges  into  towns 
and  sections.  This  ordinance  was  passed  in  1785.  In 
1786,  General  liufus  Putnam,  General  Benjamin  Tupper, 
Colonel  Ebenezer  Sproat,  Major  Winthrop  Sargent,  etc., 
were  appointed  to  commence  the  survey,  and  Tupper, 
Sproat,  and  others  surveyed  the  first  seven  ranges. 

On  January  10,  1786,  General.^  Putnam  and  Tupper 
published  a  request  to  the  officers,  soldiers,  and  those  citi- 
zens who  felt  disposed  to  engage  in  the  purchase  of  lands 
in  the  Ohio  Country  and  form  a  settlement  there,  to  meet 
at  the  Bunch  of  Grapes  tavern  in  Boston,  on  the  first  of 
March  ensuing.  This  call  was  responded  to  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  delegates  in  different  parts  of  Massachusetts, 
who  met  and  held  a  meetino-  in  Boston  at  the  time  and 
place  designated.  My  father  was  one  of  these  delegates, 
and  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  of  five  to  draft 
the  Articles  of  Association  of  the  Ohio  Company,  which 
were  adopted  by  them.  At  their  next  meeting,  three  di- 
rectors were  unanimously  chosen.  These  were  General 
Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  General  Rufus  Putnam,  and  Rev. 
Manasseh  Cutler  ;  whose  duty  it  was  to  make  application 
to  Congress  for  a  tract  of  land  in  the  North-west  Terri- 
tory. Major  Winthrop  Sargent  was  the  secretary  of  the 
company. 

More  than  a  year  passed  before  a  sufficient  number  of 
subscribers  was  obtained  to  tJie  Articles  of  Association 
to  justify  any  attempt  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  com- 
pany; when,  on  May  29,  1787,  the  directors  appointed  and 
empowered  my  father  to  make  the  purchase  as  their 
agent.  He  left  home  for  this  purpose,  June  24,  1787, 
and  went  to  New  York,  where  the  Continental  Congress 
were  assembled.  His  private  journal  kept  during  this 
journey,  and  while  engaged  in  tlie  negotiation,  lias  many 
interesting  details  respecting  persons  and  places,  and  gives 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  7 

a  full  account  of  what  he  had  to  encounter,  and  how  he 
overcame  every  difficulty  in  making  the  purchase.  His 
efforts  crowned  with  success,  he  returned  to  Massachusetts 
and  submitted  his  action  to  the  other  directors  and  agents 
of  the  Ohio  Company,  by  whom  it  was  "  fully  approved, 
ratified,  and  confirmed."  In  the  following  October,  he 
went  again  to  Kew  York,  and,  with  Major  Sargent,  exe- 
cuted the  contract  with  the  Board  of  Treasury  of  the 
United  States  for  a  million  and  a  half  acres  of  land  for 
the  Ohio  Company.  In  this  short  period,  the  ground- 
work was  laid  for  events  which,  in  their  progress  and 
consequences,  form  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  our  country. 
For  my  father,  this  was  but  the  beginning  of  a  season 
of  the  most  arduous  labor.  It  was  peculiarly  his  charac- 
ter that,  after  he  had  fully  considered  a  matter,  and  set- 
tled his  mind  to  effect  a  purpose,  nothing  could  discourage 
him  ;  his  energy  and  perseverance  overcame  all  difficulties. 
The  bargain  was  made  for  the  land,  but  it  required  much 
effort  to  raise  the  money  for  the  first  payment,  and  to  se- 
cure a  body  of  men  bold  enough  to  commence  a  settlement 
in  a  wilderness,  amidst  savages  who  were  strongly  opposed 
to  it.  General  Putnam  and  Colonel  Sproat  were  to  take 
charge  of  the  pioneer  party;  still,  the  men  and  means 
were  to  be  sought  for  and  provided,  and  in  this  he  bore 
his  full  share.  I  well  remember  the  extreme  anxiety  and 
toil  it  occasioned  him.  I  was  then  only  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  but  I  enlisted  some  of  the  first  adventurers  ; 
many,  however,  of  the  most  effective  men  were  induced 
to  come  forward  through  my  father's  influence.  The 
wagons  were  constructed  and  the  teams  purchased  under 
his  own  supervision  for  that  part  of  the  first  company  of 
colonists  who  started  for  Ohio  on  December  3, 1787,  under 
the  command  of  Major  Haffield  White.  This  party  was 
joined  at  Sumrell's  Ferry,  on  the  Youghiogheny,  by  that 
from  Hartford,  Connecticut,  under  General  Rufus  Put- 
nam, and  all  lauded  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  and 
began  the  settlement  of  Ohio  on  April  7,  1788.  Of  those 
who,  with  their  families,  removed  early  to  the  colony,  and 


8  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

remained  to  defend  it  during  the  Indian  war,  about  one- 
half  were  influenced  to  come  by  my  father  or  myself. 

He  attended  a  meeting  of  the  directors  and  agents  of 
the  Ohio  Company  at  Marietta,  in  August,  1788,  and 
spent  some  time  in  examining  the  country.  He  was 
pleased  with  the  location  of  the  settlement,  and  greatly 
interested  in  its  success;  and  labored  to  secure  for  it  the 
best  educational  and  religious  advantages. 

After  his  return  from  Ohio,  he  increased  his  school,  and 
renewed  his  researches  in  botany  and  other  branches  of 
natural  history.  During  a  great  part  of  his  life,  much  of 
his  time  was  employed  in  literary  labors,  and  in  corre- 
spondence with  scientific  men  in  Europe  and  America. 
Many  valuable  manuscripts  were  unfortunately  lost  in 
1812  by  a  fire  in  his  study.  He  was  a  member  of  a  num- 
ber of  literary,  scientific,  and  benevolent  societies,  and 
was  considered  by  his  contemporaries  "  a  man  eminent  for 
talent  and  learning/'  He  received  the  degree  of  A.M. 
from  Harvard  in  1771,  and  that  of  LL.D,  in  1789  from 
Yale  College.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  in  1800  ;  and  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  from  1801  to  1805,  when  he  declined  a  re-election, 
preferring  to  devote  himself  to  his  favorite  studies  and  to 
the  duties  of  his  profession.  He  died  July  28,  1823,  in 
the  eighty-second  year  of  his  age  and  the  fifty-second  of 
his  ministry,  much  beloved  and  lamented  by  his  people. 

Havino'  e-iven  this  short  sketch  of  the  life  and  character 
of  my  revered  father,  I  will  now  proceed  with  my  own 
personal  history.  I  was  born  in  Edgartown,  Martha's 
Vineyard,  April  18,  1767,  and  named  "  Ephraim,"  as  a 
memorial  of  my  father's  lamented  only  brother  whose 
sudden  death  occurred  about  a  year  before  my  birth. 

In  June,  1770,  when  I  was  a  little  more  than  three 
years  old,  my  father  and  mother  visited  my  grand  parents 
in  Killingly,  Connecticut,  and  took  me  and  my  brother 
Jervis  with  them.  My  grand  parents  earnestly  entreated 
that  I  should  remain  with  them,  and  in  some  measure 
supply  the  place  of  the  son  of  whom  they  had  been  so  un- 
expectedl}'  bereaved;    and  so  I  was  left   to   their   care. 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  9 

When  my  grandfather  attended  the  ordination  of  my 
father  at  Ipswich  Hamlet  in  September,  1771,*  I  was  taken 
with  him  to  visit  my  own  and  my  mother's  parents  at  Ded- 
ham.  My  parents  came  often  to  see  me,  but  I  believe  I 
was  not  aofain  in  Massachusetts  until  I  was  sixteen  years 
of  ao:e.  Durins:  this  time,  the  Revolution  had  commenced 
and  run  its  course,  and  the  United  States  of  America  had 
become  a  distinct  nation  of  the  earth. 

My  grandmother,  to  whose  care  I  was  committed,  was 
a  very  intelligent  woman,  and  took  much  pains  to  instruct 
me  daily.  She  caused  me  to  read  to  her  much  of  the 
Bible,  and  taught  me  to  repeat  the  Shorter  Catechism. 
Her  faithful  instructions  and  wise  discipline,  I  am  con- 
fident, fixed  thus  early  in  life  those  moral  principles  and 
gave  me  that  taste  for  knowledge  which  has,  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God  upon  her  efforts,  saved  me  from  shipwreck  of 
both  soul  and  body.  She  was  a  most  excellent  woman, 
strict  in  her  government,  but  always  kind.  I  could 
read  well  before  her  death,  and  early  acquired  a  love  of 
reading,  which  has  been  a  great  source  of  comfort  to  me, 
and  a  lasting  benefit.  It  pleased  God  to  take  her  from 
the  midst  of  a  circle  where  her  infiuence  was  of  the  most 
beneficial  character  on  the  8th  of  April,  1774,t  a  few  days 
before  I  was  seven  years  old. 

My  honored  grandfather  was  a  man  who  exerted  a  com- 
manding influence  around  him.  He  was  dignified  in  his 
appearance  and  manners,  and  of  great  firmness  of  char- 
acter.. He  was  a  truly  pious  man,  and  possessed  almost 
unbounded  benevolence.  Among  other  instances,  was 
that  of  an  old  woman,  a  church  beneficiary,  who  for  a 
long  time  occupied  a  chair  at  his  fireside  and  enjoyed  the 

*  Dr.  Cutler  wriies  in  his  diary,  September  16,  1771  ;  "  My  father  set 
out  for  Killingly  with  Ephraim,  our  little  son,  whom  he  broujjht  to 
visit  us,  but  he  chose  to  carry  him  back,  and  Ephraim  chose  to  go  with 
him." 

t  Dr.  Cutler  writes  of  this  event:  "April  19,  1774.  Received  the 
melancholy  news  of  the  death  of  my  honored  mother.  She  departed 
this  life  the  8th  instant,  after  a  very  short  illness.  Blessed  are  they 
that  die  in  the  Loi'd." 


10  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

hospitality  of  his  liouse,  and  was  so  well  satisfied  with  the 
treatment  she  received,  that  she  proposed  that  he  should 
"  keep  her  all  the  time,  and  have  all  the  hlessing !" 

I  well  rememher  that  the  exj^ress  with  the  news  of  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  whieli  was  the  commencement  of  the 
revolutionary  struggle,  came  directly  to  my  grandfather's 
house  in  the  night  after  the  battle.  He  was  in  bed,  and 
I  slejit  with  him.  He  arose  and  lired  his  gun  three  times, 
which  was  doubtless  the  agreed  signal,  as  it  was  universally 
expected  that  there  would  be  a  hostile  attack  from  the  Brit- 
ish. Before  sunrise  he  and  fifteen  others  had  started  for 
the  battle-field.  He  had  the  care  of  a  quantity  of  pow- 
der, which  was  kept  in  the  meeting-Jiouse.  He  gave  direc- 
tions to  have  half  a  pound  delivered  to  each  man  as  he 
called  for  it.  The  house  was  thronged  through  the  day 
with  parties  of  ten  or  twenty,  who  followed  on  toward 
Boston.  I  suppose  that  from  the  age  of  sixteen  to  sev- 
enty all  the  men  left,  except  sickness  or  some  disability 
excused  them.  AVhile  the  men  were  away,  the  women 
were  thrown  into  a  panic  by  a  report  that  "Malbone's* 
niggers  "  were  coming  to  pillage  or  burn  the  place. 

My  grandfather,  before  leaving  home,  gave  a  particular 
charge  to  his  housekeeper  to  provide  carefully  for  the  wants 
of  any  soldiers  who  might  call  at  his  house  during  his  ab- 
sence. He  was  always  ready  in  times  of  danger  to  do  his 
utmost,  and  to  encourage  the  soldiers  by  aiding  their  fam- 
ilies while  they  were  in  the  service.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
more  than  one  thousand  dollars  of  his  property,  which  was 
not  large,  was  contributed  to  his  country's  cause  beyond 
the  legal  demands  during  the  Revolution.  He  was  re- 
spected for  his  wise  and  prudent  counsel  by  all,  and  was 
indeed  a  peace-maker  among  his  neighbors.  In  the  church 
he  was  for  many  years  its  main  pillar. 

Soon  after  his  return  home,  my  grandfather  was  mar- 
ried to   Mrs.  Abigail  Robins,  a  good-looking  woman,  the 

*  Godfrey  Malbone  was  a  wealthy  slave  owner  and  merchant  in 
Newport.  He  had  a  plantation  in  Mortlake,  which  was  cultivated  by 
slaves. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  11 

widow  of  an  officer,  who  was  killed  in  a  battle  with  the 
French  and  Indians,  near  Lake  George,  N^.  Y.,  about  the 
year  1759. 

I  remember  an  incident  which  happened  near  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Revolution.  A  large  crowd  of  people  met 
in  Killingly,  and,  on  a  hill  near  our  house,  raised  a  liberty- 
pole  made  of  two  long  pieces  of  timber  united  by  a  couple 
of  cross-trees;  on  the  top  of  this,  a  flag-staff  was  placed. 
The  flag  had  not  the  stars  and  stripes,  for  they  were  then 
unknown,  but  the  sun  just  rising,  and  other  appropriate 
devices,  instead.  An  Englishman,  by  the  name  of  Bright- 
well,  who  had  come  over  during  the  old  French  War,  and 
afterward  married  and  settled  in  Killingly,  came  out  of 
his  door  and  looked  at  them  :  "Ah !  "  said  he,  "  you  know 
nothing  of  Old  England;  she  will  come  and  cut  your  lib- 
erty-pole down  for  you."' 

Whenever  there  was  an  alarm,  a  man  was  hoisted  up  to 
the  cross-trees  to  set  on  Are  a  kettle  of  tar,  the  light  of 
which  could  be  seen  for  miles  around,  and  was  the  signal 
for  the  patriots  to  assemble. 

From  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  on  the  Sabbath  noons,  I  was  called  upon  to  read 
the  New  London  Gazette.  The  house  was  generally  fllled 
with  the  elderly  class  of  people,  all  anxious  to  hear  the  news. 

When  a  little  past  seven  years  old,  I  was  sent,  with  a 
boy  much  older  than  myself,  to  Talbot's  Mill  (where  Kill- 
ingly factory  now  stands),  and  while  our  grists  were  grind- 
ing, we  went  to  the  upper  part  of  the  mill-pond  to  bathe- 
We  stripped  oft' our  clothes,  on  a  rock  near  the  shore,  and 
my  companion  jumped  into  the  water  and  swam  a  few 
feet  to  a  shallow  place,  and  called  to  me  to  follow.  I 
plunged  in,  where  the  water  was  six  or  seven  feet  deep, 
and  soon  sank.  He  came  to  my  relief,  and  brought  me  to 
the  surface ;  but,  he  being,  a  poor  swimmer,  and,  I  sup- 
pose, frightened,  I  carried  him  to  the  bottom.  He,  with 
diflUculty,  freed  himself  from  me  and  escaped  drowning. 

His  calls  brought  help,  and  I  was  drawn  out  by  the  hair 
of  my  head,  after  I  had  been  fifteen  minutes,  perhaps 
more,  under  the  water.     I  w^as  carried  to  a  house,  where 


12  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

every  known  means  was  used  for  my  recovery.  After 
two  hours  of  persevering  labor,  the  functions  of  life  were 
restored,  and  I  found  m3'self  alive,  wrapped  in  warm  red 
flannel,  with  my  grandfather  and  others  standing  around 
me.  Thus,  a  gracious  Providence  preserved  me  from  an 
early  death,  when  all  hope  had  fled. 

It  was  my  grandfather's  purpose  that  I  should  be  edu- 
cated at  Yale  College,  where  my  father  had  graduated; 
but  embarrassments,  growing  out  of  the  troubled  state  of 
the  country  during  and  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  ren- 
dered this  impracticable  ;  and,  while  the  war  was  in  prog- 
ress, it  was  not  possible  to  keep  up  regular  schools,  so 
that  my  opportunities  for  obtaining  a  good  education  were 
in  a  great  measure  cut  oft".  I  procured  an  arithmetic,  and, 
with  very  little  help  from  a  master,  obtained  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  all  the  rules  then  taught  in  the  best  country 
schools.  I  had,  I  believe,  from  nature,  a  strong  propen- 
sity to  read ;  and,  through  life,  no  opportunity  was  neg- 
lected to  read  useful  books  when  I  could  obtain  them.  I 
thus  got  a  good  understanding  of  history  and  geography 
quite  early  in  life  ;  all  without  system,  and  nearly  all  with- 
out an  instructor. 

The  Rev.  Elisha  Atkins — pastor  of  the  church  in  Kill- 
ingly,  and  successor  to  the  Rev.  Aaron  Brown — had,  for 
many  years,  instructed  young  men  preparing  for  college. 
He  urged  me  'to  attend  to  mathematics,  and  I  studied 
geometry  and  trigonometry,  and  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
drawing  and  surveying,  which  was  very  important  to  me 
in  after  life.  It  has  always  been,  to  me;  a  source  of  re- 
gret that  I  was  deprived  of  a  liberal  education.  I  have 
to  acknowledge,  however,  that  friends  were  raised  up  who 
aided  me,  some  w^itli  instruction,  and  many  with  books,  so 
that  I  have  been  enabled  to  perform  som-e  important  duties 
toward  the  public,  in  a  way  that  has  been  well  received. 

The  habits  of  the  youth  around  me,  more  especially 
those  a  few  years  older  than  myself,  had  become,  in  some 
degree,  vitiated  by  being  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  in 
the  army.  We  lived  near  Felshaw's,  a  noted  tavern,  where 
old  and  young  congregated,  quite  too  much,  to  hear  the 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  13 

news  and  drink  flip.  The  house  had,  for  many  years,  been 
the  place  for  dram  drinkers  and  tavern  liaunters  to  have 
their  times  for  dissipation.  Many  were  totally  ruined, 
and  I  have  often  been  astonished  that  I  was  not  also  ruined 
for  time  and  eternity.  But  many  circumstances,  which  I 
now  remember,  prevented  me  from  going  to  destruction. 
I  never  loved  rum.  My  own  history,  by  many  striking 
facts  all  through  my  life,  demonstrates  that  a  special  Prov- 
idence guides  and  directs  the  affairs  of  men.  I  can  not  be 
sufficiently  thankful  that  God  thus  preserved  me.  The 
glory  and  praise  be  to  His  holy  name. 

As  I  increased  in  years  and  strength,  my  grandfather 
became  more  dependent  upon  me  for  the  necessary  labor 
on  the  farm.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  I  was  compelled  to 
conduct  the  whole  business  of  the  family.  Cutting  wood 
and  hauling  it  some  two  miles,  and  the  care  of  the  stock 
in  winter,  were  a  part  of  mj  duties.  I  began  very  early 
in  life  to  purchase  articles,  such  as  butter,  cheese,  and 
poultry,  and  taking  them  to  market,  thus  getting  a  knowl- 
edge of  business,  on  a  small  scale,  which  was  useful.  I 
also  bought  droves  of  sheep,  and  some  cattle,  and  swine,^. 
which  I  took  to  market.  Among  the  rest,  I  one  year  had 
several  hundred  turkeys,  part  of  which  I  drove  to  Provi- 
dence, and  sold  to  a  merchant,  who  took  them  aboard  of  a 
vessel  bound  to  the  West  Indies.  He  cheated  me  out  of 
them  all. 

Those  who  considered  themselves  my  friends,  early 
brought  my  name  before  the  public,  and,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  my  military  associates  elected  me  orderly  ser- 
geant, and  not  long  after  ensign,  which  office  I  held  until 
I  removed  to  Ohio.  Soon  after  I  became  of  age,  I  was 
elected  lister  (the  same  as  assessor),  and  then  constable, 
and  was  responsible  for  some  office  or  trust  during  the  re- 
mainder of  my  stay  in  I^ew  England.  This  enlarged  my 
acquaintance  with  public  business,  although  in  a  small 
way.  In  Connecticut,  it  was  then  a  maxim  that  no  man 
could  hope  to  be  advanced  in  public  life  unless  he  was  first 
a  constable  and  a  corporal. 

I  ver}^  early  felt  the  importance  of  having  a  helpmeet,, 


14  Life  of  Ephraini  Cutler. 

and  before  I  had  attained  mv  twentieth  year,  I  married 
Miss  Leah  Atvvood,  April  8,  1787,  and  had  reason  to  be 
thankfnl,  in  all  my  after  life,  to  a  gracious  Providence  for 
bestowing  upon  me  such  an  excellent,  worthy  woman. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  formation  of  the  Ohio 
Company  and  to  my  father's  agency  in  purchasing  their 
lands.  After  the  contract  was  completed  and  accepted 
by  the  company,  it  was  resolved  that  General  Rufus  Put- 
nam should  proceed  to  the  Ohio  and  commence  a  settle- 
ment on  the  company's  lands.  The  first  division  of  tlfis 
pioneer  party  left  Massachusetts  early  in  December,  1787, 
under  the  care  of  Major  Ilaffield  White,  of  Danvers.  The 
organization,  selection,  and  preparation  of  this  party  was 
committed  to  my  father,  and  under  his  direction  the  neces- 
sary stores  were  provided.  My  brother,  Jervis  Cutler, 
then  about  nineteen  rears  of  ae'e,  was  one  of  the  number. 
The  enterprise  at  that  time  was  regarded  as  very  hazard- 
ous. It  is  a  fact,  that,  until  after  the  colony  reached  the 
Muskingum,  very  little  was  known,  by  the  people  gener- 
ally, of  the  true  character  of  the  lands  north-west  of  the 
river  Ohio,  or  of  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  and 
overcome  in  making  a  settlement  upon  them. 

My  father  furnished  me  with  books  containing  the 
Articles  of  Association  of  the  Ohio  Company,  in  order 
that  I  might  obtain  subscribers  for  shares. 

I  obtained  upward  of  twenty  subscribers,  and  these 
share-holders  appointed  me  their  agent,  in  which  capacity 
I  attended  the  important  meeting,  of  the  directors  and 
agents,  held  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  on  the  8th  of 
April,  1788,  although  I  was  not  of  legal  age  until  the 
13th  of  that  month.  It  was  at  this  meeting  that  the  eight 
acre  lots  were  drawn,  of  which  General  Putnam  was  to 
commence  the  survey  at  and  around  Marietta. 

In  the  performance  of  my  duties  as  agent,  I  luet  with 
many  vexations,  and  some  serious  losses.  I  never  stipu- 
lated to  receive  much  for  my  services.  As  soon  as  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  adopted,  and  the 
Acts  of  Congress  had  shown  that  a  national  credit  would 
be  established,  public  securities  became  valuable.     Those 


Life  of  Epliraim   Cutler.  15 

adventurers  in  tlie  coni})any  who  had  paid  only  a  part 
toward  their  shares,  now  found  it  ditticult  to  ol)tain  tlie 
means  to  liquidate  the  balances  due.  In  this  business  I 
had  to  make  a  Journey  to  New  York,  and  suffered  some 
severe  losses  occasioned  by  counterfeit  bills. 

In  1790,  Samson  Howe,  Esq.  (of  Ivillingh'),  proposed  to 
enter  into  a  mercantile  partnership,  and  procure  goods 
at  Boston  and  open  a  store,  which  we  effected.  The  great- 
est advantage  that  accrued  to  me  was  getting  acquainted 
with  business  and  men.  After  about  two  years  we  dis- 
solved partnership,  and  I  buiJt  a  store  and  commenced 
business  at  my  house.  It  did  not  prove  profitable  farther 
than  to  meet  family  expenses.  It  was  a  very  ditficult 
period  to  make  a  profit ;  money  was  scarce,  people  were 
frequently  leaving  to  settle  new  countries,  and  being 
obliged  to  transact  my  business  on  the  credit  system,  I 
met  with  losses.  Some  Avould  go  oft'  and  forget  t(»  pay 
store  debts. 

For  several  years  previous  to  1795,  the  business  trans- 
actions  of  New  England,  in  the  more  densely  populated 
towns,  were  subject  to  the  strongest  competition.  No 
profitable  pursuit  could  long  remain  without  having  num- 
bers crowd  into  it — hence,  disappointments  were  common. 
The  consequence  of  this  was,  that  the  unsuccessful  sought 
other  fields  of  enterprise.  The  most  active  and  resolute 
turned  their  attention  to  new  countries.  Vermont  and 
Western  New  York  received  vast  accessions  of  New 
Englanders  of  this  description. 

My  grandfather  s  wife  died  in  1791 ;  and  October  4, 1792, 
my  venerable  grandfather,  Ilezekiah  Cutler,  departed  this 
life,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  having  been  quite 
helpless  for  three  or  four  years.  He  left  his  farm  to  me. 
I  settled  up  my  mercantile  business,  and,  in  1794,  sold  the 
homestead  farm  with  the  intention  of  trying  some  new 
field  of  eftbrt.  I  traversed  the  northern  and  western 
parts  of  Connecticut,  and  also  western  Massachusetts, 
with  a  view  of  establishing  myself  in  business,  but  found 
no  place  that  pleased  me.  My  father  urged  me  to  go  to 
New  Hampshire ;  but  my  wife  had  been  for  some  time  in 


16  Life  of  E'phraim  Cutler. 

declining  healtli ;  two  of  lier  sisters  had  recently  died  of 
consumption ;  her  physicians  advised  a  more  southern 
climate,  and  this  determined  me  to  remove  to  Ohio.  Al- 
though the  Indian  war  was  still  raging,  my  wnfe  approved 
this  course,  and  I  began  making  preparations  for  moving 
west. 

I  had  most  of  my  property  invested  in  three  shares  of 
land  in  the  Ohio  Company's  purchase — one  drawn  in  the 
name  of  Eben.ezer  Atwood,  one  in  that  of  Benjamin  Con- 
vers,  and  one  in  my  own  name.  A  farm  which  I  owned, 
called  the  "Leonard  Farm,"  of  about  forty  acres,  being 
incumbered  by  a  life  lease,  I  left  unsold,  and  I  had  on 
hand  barely  money  sufficient  for  my  expenses  on  the  jour- 
ney.    It  cost  me  $200  by  the  time  we  reached  Marietta. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  17 


CHAPTER  II. 

1795  TO  1799. 

Journey  to   Ohio — Marietta — Waterford — Salt-making. 

When  onr  arrangements  for  going  west  were  completed, 
on  the  15th  of  Jnne,  1795,  I  left  Ivillingly,  and  parted 
from  a  circle  of  friends  from  whom  I  had  received  every 
mark  of  friendship  from  my  childhood,  and  who  had  be- 
stowed upon  me  at  maturer  age  many  evidences  of  respect 
and  confidence.  Mrs.  Cutler's  friends,  as  they  pressed 
around  her  at  parting,  expressed  their  fears  that  she  could 
not  survive  the  journe3^  She  answered  cheerfully,  that 
"  she  had  committed  herself  to  God,  her  Savior,  and 
should  not  suffer  herself  to  be  disheartened  by  any  appre- 
hensions, particularly,  as  physicians  in  whom  we  had 
great  confidence  had  advised  a  change  of  climate."  On 
our  departure,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Atkins  addressed  the  throne 
of  grace  in  our  behalf;  and  our  assembled  neighbors  gath- 
ered around  and  bade  us  farewell,  with  many  good  wishes 
and  tears.  Thus  we  left  the  scene  of  my  early  life,  and 
started  on  this  tljen  hazardous  journey  and  perilous  enter- 
prise. We  had  with  us  our  four  children.  Mary,  the 
eldest,  was  not  yet  eight  years  old ;  Nancy  was  two  years 
younger ;  Charles  was  about  three  years  of  age ;  and 
Hezekiah  a  little  more  than  one  year  old. 

At  Pomfret,  we  met  with  Colonel  Israel  Putnam,*  Israel 
Putnam,  Jr.,  and  their  families,  and  Phineas  Matthews, 

*  Colonel  Israel  Putnam  was  born  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  1739, 
and  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  distinguished  General  Israel  Putnam  of 
revolutionary  fame.  He  married  Sarah  Waldo,  of  an  ancient  and 
honorable  Connecticut  family.  Colonel  Putnam  was  a  veteran  of  the 
Revolution,  having  served  first  as  the  captain  of  a  company  which  he 

2 


18  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

with  whom  Ave  went  on  our  way.  A  part  of  tlie  I'utnam 
families  had  gone  b3Mvater  to  Elizabetlitown,  Xew  Jersey, 
to  receive  the  small-pox  by  inoculation.  AVe  passed 
through  Hartford,  ]!^ew  Haven,  and  Xew  York  to  Eliza- 
betlitown. This  was  a  more  expensive  route  than  the 
one  usually  traveled.  Emigrants  generally  left  the  Xew 
York  route  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  crossing  the 
Hudson  near  Fishkill,  went  thence  through  Xew  Jersey  to 
the  Delaware  at  Easton, 

At  Elizabethtown,  we  v/ere  joined  by  Dr.  Wm.  Pitt 
Putnam,  George  Putnam,  and  Colonel  Putnam's  daugh- 
ters. We  now  passed  through  Xew-Jersey  and  came  into 
the  usual  route  at  Easton,  where  we  crossed  the  Delaware 
on  a  Saturday,  and  proceeded  twelve  miles  to  Bethlehem. 
We  arrived  about  noon,  and  as  we  did  not  travel  on  the 
Sabbath,  procured  pasturage  for  our  cattle.  In  this  we 
were  courteously  aided  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Heckewelder,  the 
celebrated  Moravian  missionary,  who  had  spent  much 
time  with  the  Indians.  The  afternoon  was  occupied  in 
visiting  the  seminary  for  young  ladies,  which  the  ]Mora- 
vians  had  established  at  Bethlehem,  and  in  inspecting 
many  other  things  that  distinguished  this  remarkable 
sect.  On  the  Sabbath,  we  attended  worship  with  the  men 
by  themselves,  and  the  women  of  our  part}'  with  those  of 
the  order. 


had  enlisted,  and  afterward  as  aid  to  his  father,  General  Putnam.  He 
was  one  of  the  Ohio  Company  associates,  and  came  to  Marietta  with 
tw^o  sons  in  1788,  and  in  1789  was  one  of  the  company  who  began  the 
settlement  at  Belpre.  Having  made  some  improvements  on  his  land, 
in  the  autumn  of  1790  he  returned  to  Connecticut  for  his  family;  but 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Indian  war  soon  after  prevented  their  removal 
until  1795,  when  his  sons,  Israel,  George,  and  Dr.  William  Pitt  Put- 
nam, and  daughters,  Sarah,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth,  came  witli  him  to  the 
North-west  Territory.  His  son,  Aaron  Waldo  Putnam,  had  continued 
at  Eelpre  through  the  war.  Another  son,  David,  a  graduate  of  Yale, 
remained  in  Connecticut  to  study  law;  in  1798,  he  also  came  to  Mari- 
etta. Colonel  Putnam  was  an  intelligent  and  enterprising  agricultur- 
ist, and  introduced  choice  fruits  and  an  improved  stock  of  cattle  into 
the  country.  He  was  a  worthy,  upright,  public-spirited  citizen.  His 
descendants  are  numerous,  intelligent,  and  highly  respectable. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  19 

Our  conveyance  on  the  journey  was  a  wagon  drawn  by 
a  yoke  of  oxen  and  two  horses.  We  also  drove  one  cow, 
which  gave  us  an  abundance  of  milk  on  tlie  way.  The 
Putnams  had  two  large  wagons  with  four  oxen  to  each, 
and  one  wagon  with  two  horses,  two  riding  horses,  and 
three  milch  cows. 

ISTothing  especially  interesting  occurred  until  we  came 
to  the  mountains.  As  we  were  passing  over  the  ridges 
west  of  Carlisle,  called  the  Three  Brothers,  on  the  top  of 
one  of  them,  Mrs.  Putnam,  wife  of  Israel  Putnam,  Jr., 
was  taken  suddenly  sick,  and  gave  premature  birth  to  a 
child.  jSTo  house  being  near,  we  had  to  make  something- 
like  a  bier,  on  which  a  large  blanket  was  bound.  Upon 
this  she  was  laid,  and  four  of  us  took  it  on  our  shoulders, 
and  carefully  and  safely  carried  her  on  westward  to  the 
foot  of  the  mountains,  where  there  was  a  tavern,  a  large 
stone  house,  and  a  spacious  farm.  Here  the  Putnams 
were  detained  until  Mrs.  Putnam  was  able  to  endure 
traveling ;  and  we  went  on  alone,  except  that  Phineas 
Matthews,  who  had  thus  far  driven  one  of  their  teams, 
left  them  and  came  on  with  us  to  the  Monojio-ahela. 

On  our  arrival  at  the  river,  I  stopped  with  Esquire 
Becket,  who  then  lived  a  short  distance  above  where 
Williamsport  is  now  situated ;  and  he  famished  us  with  a 
cabin  near  his  house.  We  found  the  Beckets  an  agree- 
able family.     Miss  Peggy,  the  eldest  daughter,  afterward 

married  Rev,  Dr. .     Mrs.  Becket  was  in  feeble  health,, 

but  made  herself  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Cutler,  and  I  be- 
lieve no  afternoon  passed  during  our  stay  that  they  did 
not  take  tea  together  at  our  cabin  or  at  the  Esquire's 
house.  I  have  ever  felt  grateful  to  him  and  to  his  family, 
not  only  for  their  friendly  courtesy,  but  for  substantial 
favors  received. 

I  engaged  some  boat-builders  to  build  a  small  Kentucky 
flat-boat,  suflicient  to  take  the  four  families  down  to  Ma- 
rietta. The  boat  was  ready  when  the  Putnams  came  on, 
and  leaving  the  Beckets,  from  whom  we  had  experienced 
the  utmost  kindness,  my  family  and  the  three  Putnam 
families   embarked  at  Williamsport  with   the  movables; 


20  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

while  Colonel  Putnam  and  I  took  the  horses  and  cattle 
across  the  country,  by  Washington,  to  Wellsburg,  on  the 
Ohio.  When  we  arrived  at  Colonel  Charles  Wells's,  near 
Wellsburg,  we  were  overtaken  by  Phin.  Matthews  and 
Aaron  Waldo  Putnam,  who  had  come  up  from  Belpre  to 
meet  his  father  (Colonel  Putnam),  and  to  assist  in  taking- 
down  the  boat.  They  brought  us  tidings  that  the  boat, 
in  consequence  of  low  water,  liad  stopped  at  Elizabetli- 
town,  some  ten  or  fifteen  miles  from  the  place  whence  we 
started,  and  that  my  wife,  Israel,  Jr.,  and  the  old  lady 
Putnam  were  all  taken  sick.  The  arrangement  was  then 
made  for  Waldo  Putnam  and  Matthews  to  take  charge  of 
tlie  stock,  and  proceed  down  the  river,  while  Colonel  Put- 
nam and  I  went  back  to  the  boat.  We  found  Israel  and 
the  old  lady  dangerously  sick. 

In  a  few  days,  a  small  rise  in  the  river  induced  us  to 
push  out  into  tlie  stream  and  renew  our  voyage.  Colonel 
Putnam  was  soon  taken  sick,  and  also  our  ^^oungest  son, 
Ilezekiah. 

After  passing  Pittsburg  (with  its  cabins  and  hewed  log- 
houses)  we  nvide  exceedingly  slow  progress,  sometimes 
not  more  than  three  or  four  miles  a  day.  The  river  had 
fallen,  and  we  were  often  aground;  and  I,  with  George 
Putnam,  was  much  of  the  time  in  the  river  lifting  at  the 
boat  to  get  it  over  the  sand-bars  and  shallows. 

Below  Pittsburg  every  human  dwelling  in  sight  of  the 
river  was  fortified  by  what  was  then  called  a  stockade — 
that  is,  palisades  set  together  at  a  nearer  or  greater  dis- 
tance from  the  dwelling,  with  a  strong  gateway  to  enter 
the  inclosure.  The  buildings  were  always  furnished  in  the 
upper  story  with  port-holes  from  which  to  fire  upon  the 
enemy  with  whatever  guns  (principally  rifles)  the  occu- 
pants could  obtain. 

We  Avere  several  days  getting  down  to  Beaver  Creek, 
and  before  we  reached  there  our  dear  little  son,  Ilezekiah, 
died.  We  stopped  at  a  new  place,  where  the  owner  had 
buried  some  of  his  family,  and  by  their  side  we  deposited 
his  remains. 

At  Wellsburg  we  were  detained  for  some  time  by  the 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  21 

sickness  of  the  Putmxms,  who  remained  weak  and  low. 
Mrs.  Cutler  had  recovered.  Both  at  this  }>lac'o  and  at 
Wheeling  the  remains  of  fortifications  Avere  still  seen. 
Again  we  moved  on  in  the  usual  slow  way,  the  river  very 
low.  Below  Wheeling  we  saw  but  few  openings  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio,  and  found  no  one  living  for  fifty  miles 
above  Marietta.     All  was  an  unbroken  wilderness. 

After  leaving  Wheeling  our  dearly  beloved  Mary,  our 
eldest  child,  was  taken  violently  sick  with  bilious  fever, 
which  soon  deprived  us  of  one  of  the  most  promising  chil- 
dren I  ever  knew.  She  had  been  instructed  by  the  liev. 
Mr.  Atkins  with  his  own  daughter,  and  was  quite  pre- 
cocious in  her  varied  improvements.  She  interested  all 
who  saw  her.  To  add  to  our  distress  we  had  no  alterna- 
tive but  to  commit  her  to  the  earth  in  the  dreary  wilder- 
ness, far  from  the  habitation  of  any  civilized  being.  She 
was  buried  on  the  Ohio  side  of  the  river,  thirty  miles  above 
Marietta,  all  around  an  entire  wilderness  for  twenty  miles 
above  the  place,  and  thirty  below.  Nothing  could  be  more 
gloomy  and  trying  to  parents  than  thus  to  leave  a  most 
darling  child — one  of  greater  promise  few  ever  possessed. 
But  He  who  gave  took  His  own ;  blessed  be  His  great  and 
glorious  name. 

Soon  after  this  atRictive  event,  as  the  boat  was  lying  near 
the  shore,  Mrs.  Cutler,  in  attempting  to  pass  to  the  land 
on  an  oar  or  plank,  fell,  and,  striking  her  side  against  the 
edge  of  the  boat,  broke  two  of  her  ribs  and  injured  herself 
seriously.  My  own  health,  notwithstanding  the  great  ex- 
posures from  being  very  often  in  the  water,  continued  good 
until  about  the  time  this  accident  occurred,  when  I  was 
attacked  with  dysentery,  and  much  weakened  before  the 
boat  landed  at  ^Marietta,  whicli  was  on  the  morning  of 
September  18,  1795.  We  were  thirty-one  days  on  the 
river  from  the  time  we  left  Williamsport  until  we  reached 
Marietta,  and  a  little  over  three  months  on  the  way  since 
leaving  Killingly. 

A  Mr.  Griffin,  whom  I  had  casually  met  at  AVellsburg 
during  our  stay  there,  and  with  whom  I  had  formed  a  slight 
acquaintance,  had  preceded  us,  coming  down  the  river  with 


22  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 


\ 


goods  for  his  store.  He  met  us,  and  most  obligingly  pro- 
cured for  our  temporary  abode  a  room  in  the  upper  story 
of  a  block-house,  and  a  team  to  remove  us  to  it.  And  so 
the  boat  was  left. 

My  disorder  had  greatly  increased.  I  was  barely  able 
to  get  up  the  stairs  to  our  contracted  room.  It  is  difficult 
to  describe  our  situation  at  this  time,  or  to  give  a  correct 
view  of  our  feelings,  for  they  were  varied. 

We  had  overcome  the  labors  and  fatigues  of  an  ex- 
tremely long  and  perilous  journey  ;  but  we  had  to  mourn 
the  loss  of  two  of  our  dear  children ;  one,  just  budding 
into  life,  with  every  promise  of  adorning  her  sex  and 
family  ;  the  other,  the  darling  youngest  son,  his  mother's 
unweaned  love.  We  had  landed  sick,  amons;  strano;ers, 
with  no  well-known  friend  to  meet  us  with  kindly  greet- 
ing, and  myself  destined  to  be  confined  to  a  bed  from 
which,  for  a  time,  there  seemed  little  hope  that  I  should 
ever  rise  in  health.  Such  was  our  introduction  to  })ioneer 
life. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  countr}'  as  we  found  it  in  1795, 
it  may  be  well  to  state  some  facts  connected  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  colony  which  settled  on  the  Ohio  Company's 
Purchase.  Seven  years  and  a  half  had  passed  since  the 
settlement  began  at  Marietta,  under  the  direction  of  Gen- 
eral Rufus  Putnam;  and  for  more  than  four  years  of  this 
time,  the  Indian  war  had  been  in  progress,  and  had  only 
been  brought  to  a  close  b}'  General  Wayne's  victorious 
campaign,  and  his  recent  treaty  at  Greenville,  concluded 
August  3,  1795. 

Marietta  presented  the  appearance  of  three  fortresses. 
On  the  lower  side  of  the  Muskingum  river,  was  Fort  Har- 
mar,  erected  by  Major  Doughty  in  1785.  The  upper 
point  was  fortified  by  a  stockade  surrounding  the  build- 
ings, flanked  with  block-houses ;  and  at  the  residence  of 
General  Putnam,  a  mile  from  the  Point,  was  Campus 
Martins,  a  regularly  built  fortress,  with  block-houses  at 
each  corner;  so  construeted  as  to  be  considered  impreg- 
nable to  a  savage  foe.  The  last  two  fortifications  were 
erected  by  tlie  Ohio  Compau}-. 


Ij[fe  of  Epln'obn   Cutler.  23 

Amoiiii-  the  principal  inhabitants  were  (General  liufus 
Putnam,  Hon.  Joseph  Oilman,  Colonel  Ebenezer  S})roat, 
Benjamin  Ives  Gilman,  Esq.,  Hon.  Paul  Fearing,  Colonel 
William  Stacy,  Hon.  Judge  Woodbridge,  Hon.  Judge 
Griffin  Green,  Charles  Green,  Esq.,  Colonel  K.  J.  Meigs, 
Hon.  E.  J.  Meigs,  Jr.,  Josiah  Munro,  Esq.,  Dr.  Jabez  True, 
and  others,  men  who  would  have  been  distinguished  in 
any  place.  Several  of  them  have  done  honor  to  exalted 
stations.  General  J.  M.  Varnuni,  General  S.  H,  Parsons, 
and  General  Benjamin  Tupper  died  during  the  early  years 
of  the  settlement. 

It  is  not  easy  to  convey  a  proper  idea  of  the  settlements 
at  and  around  Marietta.  The  settlers  had  been-  almost 
from  the  first  confined  to  a  o-arrison  life — much  as  if  in  a 
state  of  beino^  besieo-ed.  Thev  were  constantlv  watched 
by  a  practiced,  skillful  enemy,  who  could  safely  approach 
them  from  almost  every  quarter,  having  the  uninterrupted 
command  of  all  the  waters  which  enter  the  Ohio  from  the 
north,  and  of  that  river  for  nearly  a  hundred  miles  above 
Marietta,  and  for  long  distances  below.  Their  habitations 
were  at  the  heads  of  the  principal  streams,  Avhich  they 
could  silently  and  swiftly  descend  in  their  light  canoes. 
The  settlers  here  for  nearly  six  years  occupied  the  position 
of  the  forlorn  hope  of  the  western  part  of  Pennsylvania 
and  A^irginia,  and  the}-  nobly  sustained  the  post.  The 
doors  and  gates  of  the  garrisons  were  seldom  opened  at 
early  morning,  and  when  the  day  was  more  advanced, 
men  went  cautiously  around,  ap})rehensive  of  an  attack 
from  the  stealthv  savao-e  foe  ;  and  when  the  sun  set  the 
ofates  were  closed  and  securelv  barre<L 

The  effect  upon  the  inhabitants  which  this  state  of 
thino-s  produced  was  strikini>'lv  manifest  to  one  who  had 
come  recently  from  the  land  of  steady  habits.  This  gar- 
rison life  had  broken  up  former  fixed  habits  of  industry, 
and  led  to  a  fondness  for  sports  and  social  meetings  where 
drinking  was  practiced,  and  hours  were  spent  in  jovial 
convivialit}-,  which,  at  the  return  of  peace,  would  have 
been  more  profitably  employed  in  improving  their  rich 
lands,  or  in  preparing  more   c(»mf(>rtable  dwellings.     The 


24  Life  of  Ephraini    Cutler. 

settlers  ^ve^e,  liowever,  almost  without  exception  ISTew 
Englanders,  who  came  at  lirst  with  the  habits  of  indnstry, 
respect  for  order,  and  strict  subordination  to  law,  which 
characterize  that  people.  Hence,  nothing  like  riotous  or 
unbecoming  behavior  had  obtained  an  ascendancy.  It 
would  l)e  difficult  to  collect  a  more  intelligent  and  refined 
society  than  could  be  found  at  Marietta,  Belpre,  or  Water- 
ford.  Far  the  larger  portion  of  the  men  had  served  their 
country  in  and  through  the  Revolutionary  War  ;  some  of 
them  had  been  officers  of  distinguished  ability — many  of 
them  were  remarkable  for  polislied  manners,  strength  of 
character,  well  stored  minds,  and  honest  hearts.  Of  these 
men  who  had  fought  bvhis  side.  General  Washington  said  : 
"No  colonvin  America  was  ever  settled  under  such  favor- 
able  auspices  as  that  which  has  just  commenced  at  Mus- 
kingum. Information,  })roperty,  and  strength  will  be  its 
characteristics.  I  know  many  of  the  settlers,  personally, 
and  there  never  were  men  better  calculated  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  such  a  community.'' 

The  earl}'  colonists  of  the  Ohio  Company  met  with  re- 
verses. Tliey  were  visited  with  the  small-jiox,  which  was 
uncommonly  fatal,  especially  at  Marietta;  a  failure  of  the 
crops  one  year  produced  almost  a  famine.  Then  came  the 
Indian  War,  during  which  all  the  settlements  were  at 
times  reduced  to  the  greatest  straits  for  provisions ;  added 
to  these,  they  were  constantly  losing  their  young  men, 
either  by  the  Indian  tomahawk,  by  enlistment  in  tlie  pub- 
lic service,  or  by  removal ;  for  many  were  discouraged  by 
the  war,  and  went  back  up  the  Ohio,  or  even  returned  to 
New  Eno-land. 

Early  in  1789,  the  Ohio  Company  surveyed  at  Belpre 
and  Waterford  lots  of  a  convenient  size  to  accommodate 
persons  who  came  and  wished  to  settle  in  the  country 
before  any  of  the  Company's  lands,  except  the  small  lots, 
had  been  divided  and  allotted  to  the  share-holders.  At 
both  of  these  points  settlements  were  soon  made.  There 
is  probably  no  more  beautiful  and  pleasant  location  to  be 
found  (jn  the  banks  of  the   Ohio  I'iver  than  that  of  Bel- 


Life  of  Ephralm   Cutler.  25 

pre,*  where  a  number  of  iiulnstrious  and  enterprising  cit- 
izens began  a  settlement  in  1789.  Many  of  them  were 
officers  of  the  army  who  had  served  witli  honor  during 
the  RevohTtionary  War.  Block-liouses  were  built  for  the 
security  of  the  settlers,  the  principal  one,  called  "Farmers' 
Castle,"  was,  on  the  breaking  out  of  Indian  hostilities  in 
January,  1791,  put  in  a  defensible  condition,  and  placed 
under  the  command  of  Major  ISTathan  Goodale,  and  here 
the  inhabitants  went  into  garrison.  There  were  some 
deaths  and  many  narrow  escapes  at  this  place,  but  the 
most  serious  loss  was  Major  Goodale  himself,  a  most  brave 
and  estimable  man.  He  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  sav- 
ages in  March  1793,  and  died  in  captivity.  The  command 
of  the  garrison  then  devolved  upon  Colonel  ]Srathaniel 
Gushing,  who  was  an  accomplished  officer. 

The  same  year  the  settlement  began  at  Belpre,  one' 
was  commenced  at  Waterford.  A  stockaded  fort  was 
built  for  refuge  in  case  the  Indians  proved  hostile.  It 
was  situated  about  twenty  miles  above  Marietta,  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Muskingum,  half  a  mile  below  the  present 
town  of  Beverlv.  It  was  called  Fort  Frve,  and  during;  the 
war  was  commanded  by  Captain  William  Gray,  to  whose 
watchful  care  and  uniiinchino;  bravery  the  inhabitants 
were  greatly  indebted  for  their  safety. 

About  two  miles  from  Fort  Frve,  a  fine  mill  seat  had 
been  discovered,  at  the  falls  of  Wolf  creek,  which  enters 
the  Muskingum  from  the  west.  Mills  are  among  the  most 
urgent  necessities  of  pioneer  life,  and  this  year  Colonel 


*  The  eavly  settlers  of  Belpre  included  a  large  number  of  tlie  old 
officers  of  the  Continental  line,  among  wlioiu  were  Colonel  Nathaniel 
Gushing,  Colonel  Alexander  Oliver,  Colonel  Silas  Bent,  Colonel  Israel 
Putnam,  Colonel  Ebenezer  Battelle,  Major  Jonathan  Haskell,  Major 
Nathan  Goodale,  Major  Oliver  Rice.  Mjijor  Robert  Bradford,  Captain 
Zebulon  Ring,  Captain  .John  Levins,  Captain  Jonathan  Devol,  Captain 
William  Dana,  Captain  Jonathan  .Stone,  Captain  Israel  Stone,  Captain 
Benjamin  Miles,  Captain  William  James,  and  others.  Besides  these 
men  distinguished  for  intelligence  an<l  military  service,  there  were 
civilians  not  less  esteemed.  Aaron  Waldo  I'utnam,  lion.  Daniel  Lor- 
ing,  Hon.  Isaac  Pierce,  the  Barkers,  Rouses,  and  many  more,  might 
be  named  whose  descendants  trace  their  families  back  to  Belpre. 


26  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

Tiobert  Oliver,  Major  llaffield  White,  and  Captain  John 
Dodo-e  besfan  to  erect  mills  at  that  point.  These  srrist  and 
saw-mills  were  completed  in  1790,  and  were  the  first  mills 
ever  built  within  the  boundaries  of  Ohio. 

Among  the  associates  who  with  their  families  first  settled 
at  the  Waterford  allotment,  were  Captain  Daniel  Davis  and 
liis  sons,  ^Major  Coburn,  Gilbert  Devol,  Esq.,  Captain  "Will- 
iam Gray,  George,  David,  and  William  Wilson,  Nathan 
Ivinne,  Major  Dean  Tyler,  and  Benjamin  Convers,  Esq.  Mr. 
Convers  was  a  gentleman  of  real  genius,  public  spirit,  and 
intelligence ;  his  early  death  from  small-pox  was  a  serious 
loss  to  the  whole  community.  Jervis  Cutler  and  John 
Gardner  were  among  the  associates,  but  did  not  remain 
long  in  the  settlement. 

In  the  autumn  of  1790,  the  settlement  at  Big  Bottom, 
an  extensive  and  beautiful  tract  of  land  ten  miles  farther 
up  the  Muskingum,  was  begun  by  a  company  of  young 
men.  The}'  were  active  and  resolute,  but  unacquainted 
with  Indian  warfare,  and  failed  to  exercise  the  caution 
which  their  safety  required.  The  large  block-house  which 
they  had  built  and  occupied  was  unfinished;  neither  prop- 
erly secured  n(U'  inclosed  by  pickets.  On  the  2d  of  Janu- 
ary, 1791,  they  were  surprised  by  a  party  of  Delawares 
and  Wyandotts,  who  killed  twelve  of  tlieir  number  and 
carried  five  into  captivity,  burned  the  block-house,  and 
broke  up  the  settlement.  This  opened  the  war  which  for 
four  years  desolated  the  border.  The  Wolf  creek  mills 
were  abandoned,  the  settlers  taking  refuge  at  Marietta. 
Waterford  was  now  the  most  exposed  post  on  the  frontier. 
The  inhabitants  retired  to  Fort  Frye,  which  was  attacked 
bv  the  enemv  on  the  10th  of  March,  1791.  This  assault 
was  successfully  resisted.  One  man,  Wilbur  Sprague,  was 
severely  wonnded,  and  most  of  the  cattle  belonging  to 
the  place  were  destroyed.  A  few  weeks  later,  Daniel 
■Convers,*  then  a  youth,  was  taken  prisoner  and   carried 


*  Colonel  Daniel  Convers,  second  son  of  Benjamin  Convers,  Esq.,  of 
Waterlord,  Ohio,  in  1791,  when  fifteen  years  old,  was  made  prisoner  by 
the  Indians  and   taken  to  Detroit,  then  a  British  post.      IJe  escaped, 


Life  of  Ephrauii   Cutler.    '  27 

into  a  toclious  captivity,  and  tlie  i)laee  coiitiiincd  to  l)o 
watched  almost  constantly  by  small  jiai-ties  of  the  enemy. 
The  exemption  from  greater  loss  was  probably  owing-  to 
the  vigilance  of  tlie  rangers  or  spies,  who  daily  scouted 
the  woods  about  the  fort,  and  to  the  large  })r<)})ortion  of 
experienced  oflicers  and  soldiers  in  the  ])lace,  whose 
courage  and  steadiness  were  invaluable.  This  })oint  was 
greatly  strengtJiened  in  1793  by  the  establishment  of  a 
stockaded  fort,  with  fourteen  men  and  se\'eral  families,  at 
Olive  Green. 

We  arrived  in  the  country  just  at  the  time  Avlien,  the 
war  being  over,  the  people  had  left  the  garrisons  and  were 
movino'  onto  their  lands. 


and  by  the  kindness  of  British  officers  was  sent  tlirough  Canada  to 
New  England,  from  whence  he  returned  west  nearly  three  yeais  after 
his  captuie.  He  married  the  lovely  daughter  of  Captain  Jo^iah 
Munro,  and  settled  in  Zanesville.  lie  was  a  genial,  intelligent,  and 
successlul  man.  Judge  Cutler  always  regarded  him  as  a  very  dear  and 
highly  valued  friend.  On  the  occasion  of  his  death,  in  August,  1848, 
he  received  from  his  son,  Hon.  Charles  C.  Convers,  this  announce- 
ment: 

"  I  write  to  announce  to  you  the  death  of  my  father  and  your  friend. 
After  an  illness  of  almost  three  weeks,  he,  on  8atin-(lay,  the  12th  in- 
stant, at  12  o'clock,  at  his  home  in  this  place,  serenely  and  peaceiully 
breathed  his  last,  surrounded  by  all  his  children. 

"  He  became  satisfied,  a  few  days  after  his  attack,  that  he  would  not 
recover,  and  contemplated  his  approaching  dissolution  with  perfect 
calmness  and  composure.  His  mind  was  clear  and  unclouded  to  the 
last.  He  had  no  fear  of  death.  He  frequently  spoke  of  it.  At  no 
time  during  his  protracted  sickness  was  he  foi'  a  moment  visited  with 
faltering  or  misgiving,  but  throughout  its  whole  progress  exhibited  a 
beautiful  illustration  of  the  Christian  philosopher  calmly  awaiting  his 
latter  end. 

"1  know  the  ancient  friendship,  more  than  IViendsliip — {he  fratrmnl 
affection — which  bound  my  father  to  you  and  you  to  my  father,  which 
no  causes  whatever  were,  during  a  long  life-time,  ever  permitted  to 
disturb.  It  was  an  affection  such  as  rarely  occurs,  such  as  death  alone 
dissolves,  and  which,  now  that  death  has  dissolved  it,  can  never  again, 
at  your  period  of  life,  be  sui)plied,  for  it  ivas  the  growth  of  more  than 
half  a  century.  ' 

"I  have  felt  that  you  would  wish  to  hear  of  the  closinjr  scene  of 
your  eai'ly  and  fast  friend,  aixl  that  you  would  be  glad  to  learn  that 
his  last  end  was  tranquil  and  resigned." 


28  '     Life  of  Eplirahn  Cutler. 

Several  of  tlie  early  settlers  of  Waterford  were  from 
Killiiigly,  Coiuieeticiit,  and  as  soon  as  tliey  heard  of  our 
arrival  at  Marietta,  they  called  upon  us  ;  and  when  my 
health  wonid  permit,  which  was  not  till  some  time  in  Oc- 
toher,  they  came  with  a  canoe  and  conveyed  me  up  the 
Muskingum  to  that  place.  I  decided  to  locate  there,  and 
arrangements  were  soon  made  for  our  removal.  On  my 
return  to  Marietta,  two  pirogues  were  provided,  in  wliich 
we  immediatel}'  embarked,  with  our  effects;  and  when  we 
reached  Waterford,  Captain  Daniel  Da^as,  wdiom  I  had 
assisted  in  l^ew  England,  invited  us  to  his  home,  and  gave 
us  at  least  one-luilf  of  the  best  log-house  in  the  country 
to  dwell  in  during  the  winter.  Captain  Davis  was  the  son 
of  Deacon  Daniel  Davis,  of  Killingly,  a  very  respectable 
man.  All  his  family  connections,  which  were  numerous, 
were  of  the  most  substantial  Puritan  character.  During 
the  Revolutionary  War,  Captain  Davis  had  been  employed 
in  many  responsible  services,  such  as  engaging  men  for 
the  army,  supplying  them  with  clothing  and  other  neces- 
saries when  required,  and  also  providing  for  the  families 
of  those  who  were  in  active  service.  His  patriotism  led 
him  to  sacrifice  his  own  property  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public.  This,  with  losses  occasioned  by  the  great  depre- 
ciation of  the  currency,  had  reduced  him  in  his  pecuniary 
affairs.  He  possessed  a  robust,  active  body,  a  strong 
mind,  and  that  prudent  forecast  which  makes  courage 
valuable.  AVhen  he  came  to  Ohio,  in  1788,  he  was  rather 
past  the  most  vigorous  season  of  life,  but  was  very  useful, 
as  all  placed  confidence  in  his  firmness  and  integrity. 

When  I  moved  to  Waterford,  the  settlement  consisted 
of  thirty-two  families,  my  own  making  the  thirty-third. 
It  was  an  intelligent  and  pleasant  community.  On  the 
west  side  of  the  river  was  Colonel  Robert  Oliver,  who 
added  to  his  military  reputation  that  of  an  upright,  dig- 
nified mao-istrate.  He  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
Ohio  Company,  and  was,  by  the  ap})ointment  of  President 
Adams,  in  1799,  made  a  member  of  the  legislative  council 
of  the  territory,  and  was  afterward  made  the  president  of 
the  council.     He  was  in  all  respects  a  most  worthy  man. 


Life  of  Ephraiin    Cutler.  29 

Major  Ilaffield  White,  a  sterliiii;-  revulutiuiiary  veteran, 
lived  here ;  also,  Major  Dean  Tyler,  a  scholar  and  a  gen- 
tleman, educated  at  Harvard  College.  He  was  unmarried, 
and  had  no  family  ties  here,  hut  by  his  bravery  and  unselfish 
devotion  to  the  interest  of  the  settlers  during  the  Indian 
war,  often  hazarding  his  life  in  their  service,  he  secured 
the  love  and  respect  of  the  entire  community.  Colonel 
Thompson,  a  distinguished  revolutionary  officer,  and  Hon. 
Oilbert  Devol,  formerl}^  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Rhode  Island,  then  both  in  the  decline  of  life,  were  resi- 
dents in  Waterford.  Those  mentioned,  with  Captain  Will- 
iam Gray,  Captain  John  Dodge,  the  Wilsons,  and  other 
intelligent,  worthy  men,  took  the  lead  in  matters  of  pul)- 
lic  interest.  Their  families  are  now  spread  abroad  in  the 
West. 

We  were  much  more  comfortable  at  Watei'ford  tlian  at 
Marietta.  Provisions  such  as  venison,  turkeys,  bear  meat, 
pork,  corn-meal,  etc.,  were  abundant.  From  our  cow  we 
had  plenty  of  milk  and  butter  ;  and  I  had  brought  from 
Williamsport  a  quantity  of  flour  sufficient  to  last  seven  or 
eight  months.  Most  of  these  articles  were  scarce  and 
dear  at  Marietta.  The  weather  was  very  mild  ;  my  team 
found  employment  all  winter  to  plow,  as  the  ground  was 
not  frozen  enough  to  stop  the  plow  during  the  whole 
season,  and  very  little  snow  fell. 

Late  in  November,  1795,  Colonel  Benjamin  Tallmadge, 
the  treasurer  of  the  Ohio  Company,  and  Dr.  John  Mawney 
came  on  from  'New  England  uith  special  powers  from  a 
larffe  number  of  the  share-holders  to  settle  the  affiiirs  of 
the  company.  The  agents  who  were  in  this  country  met 
w^ith  them  at  Marietta.  The  lands  then  being  surveyed 
were  drawn  for ;  a  division  of  the  lands  and  a  final  settle- 
ment of  the  company's  concerns  was  effected. 

As  an  agent,  most  of  my  time  was  employed  at  Mari- 
etta till  this  business  was  completed. 

That  winter  General  Putnam  gave  me  a  job  of  survey- 
ing donation  lots,  of  which  there  were  50,000  acres  in 
Waterford,  mostly  east  of  the  river.  I  surveyed  the  lands 
bordering  on  the   north  line  of  the  donation  tract  from 


30  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

Meigs's  creek  to  Bear  creek,  comprising  all  that  had  not 
been  previously  surveyed  on  Olive  Green,  Big  Run,  Cat's 
creek,  and  Bear  creek.  The  avails  of  this  kibor,  which 
was  about  one  hundred  dollars,  was  a  great  relief  to  me 
in  my  then  needy  circumstances.  I  could  not  at  that 
time  dispose  of  any  of  my  Ohio  Company  lands,  except 
one  Fifth  Division  lot,  which  I  sold  to  Colonel  Israel  Put- 
nam, and  he  applied  it  to  cover  one  hundred  acres  in 
Belpre.  He  gave  me  only  iifty  dollars  for  it,  which 
barely  paid  the  expenses  of  our  sickness  on  our  hrst  ar- 
rival at  Marietta. 

I  made  myself  acfpiainted  with  a  considerable  part  of 
the  company's  lands  during  this  year,  and  spent  some 
time,  particularly,  in  examining  those  townships  near  to 
"Waterford,  where  the  surveys  were  completed,  and  thus 
acquired  useful  information  respecting  the  value  of  these 
lands. 

In  the  spring  of  179(3,  we  toolv  possession  of  an  empty 
cabin  in  old  Fort  Frye.  I  purchased  of  George  Wilson 
four  acres  of  rich  bottom  land  near  the  fort  covered  with 
very  large  beech  and  poplar  trees,  which  I  cleared  oif, 
cutting  all  the  timber,  and  piling  and  burning  the  logs. 
This,  to  a  green  hand,  was  a  severe  labor,  as  my  hands 
bore  witness.  I  planted  it  in  June  and  had  a  line  crop  of 
corn  ;  I  also  built  a  cabin  that  summer,  and  removed  into 
it  in  the  autumn.  That  same  year  I  purchased  of  Captain 
William  Gray  a  lot  of  68  acres,  lying  above  the  ferry, 
a  part  of  which  is  now  included  in  the  town  of  Beverly. 
Here  I  fitted  up  for  a  store  a  cabin  that  had  been  upon 
the  lot,  and  procured  goods  by  exchanging  for  tliem  the 
section  of  land  which  appertained  to  my  AtWood  share. 
It  is  jSTo.  32,  situated  in  Wesley  township.  I  considered 
it  at  the  time  of  little  value,  it  remained  for  many  years 
uncultivated,  but  is  now,  I  believe,  owned  by  actual 
settlers.  The  goods  were  the  remains  of  a  store  belong- 
ing to  General  Joseph  Buell ;  they,  of  course,  were  not  a 
proiitable  purchase  if  paid  for  in  money,  but  as  the  case 
was,  it  was  well  enough  for  me. 

Before  the  first  year  closed  of  my  residence  in  Water- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  31 

ford,  there  Avas  one  clay  placed  in  niy  hands,  with  a  letter 
from  Benjamin  Ives  Gilman,  a  packet,  which,  upon  open- 
ing, I  found  to  contain  three  commissions  from  Governor 
St.  Clair — one  as  captain  of  the  militia;  another  for  justice 
of  the  peace  and  quarter  sessions;  a  third  forjudge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas.  My  astonishment  was  over- 
whelming. I  felt  my  incapacity  to  perform  the  duties 
which  the  civil  commissions  imposed  upon  me  to  such  a 
degree,  that  I  concluded  at  first  to  return  all  hut  that  for 
captain  of  the  militia.  While  I  was  dehberating  on  the 
subject.  Major  Tyler  called  upon  me  and  in  a  delicate  man- 
ner referred  to  the  matter,  and  observed  that  though 
probably  it  might  be  owing  principally  to  my  father's 
character,  that  the  appointments  had  been  made;  yet  he 
thought  I  ought  not  to  hesitate  in  accepting  them." 

Soon  after  I  settled  at  Waterford,  Lieutenant  George 
Ewnng  informed  me  that  lie  had  discovered  a  salt  spring 
that  had  furnished  salt  for  the  Indians.  We  were  often 
visited  by  numbers  of  Wyandotts  and  Shawnees,  who 
came  to  sell  wild  meat  and  furs,  and  one  of  these  had 
given  to  Mr.  Ewing  such  information  that  he,  with  two  or 
three  others,  went  in  search  of  the  spring,  and  succeeded 
in  finding  the  place.  It  was  m  the  wilderness,  nearly  forty 
miles  from  us,  on  Salt  creek,  at  what  is  now  Chandlers- 
ville,  in  Muskingum  count3\ 

The  article  of  salt  was  extremely  difficult  to  procure. 
Nearly  all  the  salt  consumed  west  of  the  AUeghanies  was 
brought  over  the  mountains  on  pack-horses.  The  price 
w^as  seldom  less  than  live  and  was  sometimes  seven  or  eight 
dollars  a  bushel.  People  sent  to  Marietta  to  purchase  it 
by  the  quart  or  gallon.  It  was  not  only  excessively  dear, 
but  scarce,  and  hard  to  be  obtained ;  and  our  means  of  re- 
alizing money  w^ere  very  limited.  When  the  springs  w^ere 
discovered,  a  public  meeting  was  called,  and  a  "Salt 
Spring  Company"  formed  from  the  settlements  at  Olive 
Green,  AVolf  Creek  Mills,  Cat's  creek,  and  Waterford,  for 
the  purpose  of  making  salt.  They  were  divided  into  four 
classes,  bearing  the  names  of  these  places;  and,  at  stated 
times,  they  relieved  each  other  in  the  work. 


32  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

We  took  possession  of  the  spring,  cleaned  it  out,  set  the 
large  iron  kettles  we  had  for  making  sugar  into  arches, 
and  began  boiling  the  water  for  salt.  It  was  a  tedious, 
slow  process.  During  a  week  of  hard  work,  four  men 
could  make  about  six  bushels.  We  succeeded  so  far  as  to 
make  a  full  supply  for  the  several  settlements  represented 
in  the  company,  and  had  some  to  spare.  Afterward,  when 
our  conveniences  were  improved,  we  could,  by  our  best 
efforts,  make  five  bushels  a  day ;  and  it  was  a  great  relief 
to  the  whole  country.  We  sold  it  at  two  dollars  for  fifty 
pounds. 

When  Zane's  road,  from  Wheeling,  Virginia,  to  Mays- 
ville,  Kentucky,  which  was  authorized  by  Congress  in 
1796,  was  opened  through  the  forest,  and  was  made  pass- 
able for  pack-horses,  the  inhabitants  of  the  settlements 
near  St.  Clairsville  cut  out  a  path  from  this  road,  after  it 
crossed  Wills's  creek,  to  come  to  the  Salt  Works ;  and  we 
cut  one  through  the  woods  to  Zanesville,  where  Messrs. 
McCuUoch  and  Crooks,  with  their  families,  had  made  a 
settlement.  Frequently,  travelers  would  leave  Zane's 
road,  and  take  the  track  by  the  Salt  Works,  and  thus  we 
sometimes  had  company  in  our  cabin  for  a  night. 

I  often  went  up  with  parties  to  make  salt,  and  had  at 
one  time  in  my  company  a  lively  little  Frenchman,  named 
Peter  J^oblaise,  who  came  from  France  with  the  Gallipolis 
French.  One  evening,  two  gentlemen  called,  and  re- 
quested our  hospitality  for  the  night.  They  appeared  like 
foreigners,  but  spoke  English  well.  Peter  soon  discovered 
that  our  visitors  were  Frenchmen,  and  after  we  were  col- 
lected in  our  cabin,  he  and  one  of  them  became  very  lo- 
quacious in  their  native  language.  Peter,  being  a  good 
singer,  commenced  the  Marseilles  hymn,  and  sang  several 
other  French  airs,  in  which  he  was  joined  by  one  or  both 
of  the  strangers.  The  other  man,  who  was  a  person  of 
fine  figure  and  engaging  manners,  confined  his  conversa- 
tion mostly  to  me,  asking  many  minute  questions  about 
the  Ohio  Company  and  the  settlers  at  Marietta,  and  es- 
pecially respecting  the  French  at  Gallipolis.  We  con- 
versed until  after  midnight,  when  I  gave  him  my  bunk 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  33 

and  bear  skin  for  his  bed.  The  next  mornino^  he  thanked 
ns  in  the  most  cordial  manner  for  our  entertainment.  Aa 
they  were  about  to  start,  the  one  who  had  talked  with  Peter, 
took  him  aside,  and  told  him  we  had  entertained  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  [afterward  Louis  Phillippe,  King  of  France]. 

While  we  were  engaged  in  making  salt,  the  Indians 
frequently  visited  us,  and  sometimes  in  considerable  num- 
bers. The  young  Delaware  chief,  George  White  Eyes, 
was,  on  one  occasion,  with  a  large  party  hunting  in  the 
region  around  us,  when  an  event  occurred  which  is  per- 
haps worth  relating,  as  illustrating  Indian  customs.  He, 
with  his  wife  and  Old  Tom,  a  Stockbridge  Indian,  with  a 
bottle  of  whisky,  were  together  drinking,  when  a  quarrel 
ensued,  and  Old  Tom  struck  White  Eyes  on  the  temple 
with  the  pipe  end  of  his  tomahawk,  felling  him  to  the 
ground,  and  then  fled.  The  wife  of  White  Eyes  came  at 
once  to  the  salt  works,  and  most  earnestly  urged  our  party 
to  go  out  and  bring  her  husband  in.  Four  of  us  imme- 
diately started  with  her,  and  found  him  senseless,  and  but 
just  breathing.  We  conveyed  him  to  the  salt  works,  and 
soon  a  laro-e  number  of  Indians  came  into  the  station. 
The  squaws  immediately  proceeded  to  construct  a  place 
by  digging  a  hole  on  the  edge  of  a  steep  bank,  where  they 
built  a  tire  with  spice-wood,  and  placed  over  it  a  large  flat 
stone.  White  Eyes  was  then  brought  and  his  wound 
treated  according  to  Indian  custom,  by  placing  his  head 
above  the  stone,  at  a  little  distance,  one  squaw  brought 
water  and  poured  on  the  hot  stone,  while  another  held  a 
dressed  deer  skin,  formed  somewhat  in  a  funnel  shape, 
over  his  head  to  condense  the  steam,  which  occasioned  a 
strong  current  of  steam  to  envelop  his  head.  This  they 
continued  to  do  for  several  hours,  and  the  next  day  White 
Eyes  *  was  able  to  go  about  with  his  party. 

*  Captain  White  Eyes,  the  father  of  George  White  Eyes,  wa?,  at  tlie 
time  of  the  first  settlement  on  the  Ohio  Company's  purchase,  an  influ- 
ential chief  of  the  Delaware  tribe,  and  friendly  to  the  white  men.  He 
was  more  than  once  ceremoniously  received  in  the  halls  of  Congress, 
at  whose  expense  his  son  is  said  to  have  been  educated  at  Princeton 

3 


84  Life  of  Ephraim.  Cutler. 

College.  Young  George  White  Eyes,  on  his  return  to  his  native  woods, 
resumed  the  habits  of  his  early  life.  He  was  of  small  stature,  but  of 
a  bright,  intelligent  countenance.  His  wife  is  described  by  the  early 
settlers  as  a  beautiful,  uncultivated  Indian  girl,  with  long  glossy  hair 
hanging  down  over  her  well-formed  slioulders.  She  wore,  usually,  a 
blue  broadcloth  dress,  profusely  ornamented  with  brooches,  and  moc- 
casins highly  decorated  in  the  style  of  her  people.  Soon  after  his  ad- 
venture at  the  salt  spring,  George  White  Eyes,  while  intoxicated,  was 
killed  by  a  white  man  in  Jefferson  county.  His  death  caused  great 
excitement  among  the  Indians,  and  war  was  feared,  V)ut,  through  the 
intluence  of  Bazaleel  Wells,  Esq.,  and  by  a  judicious  and  liberal  supply 
of  presents,  the  storm  was  allayed,  and  the  friends  of  the  dead  chief 
conciliated. 


lAfe  of  Ephraliit   Cutler.  85 


CHAPTER  III. 

Settlement  at  Ames — School  Lands. 

In  1797,  I  purchased  of  Captain  Jobu  Dodge  about  six- 
hundred  acres  of  his  lands  in  town  6,  range  18,  for  which 
I  agreed  to  let  him  have  the  lot  I  l)ought  of  Gray  in 
Waterford,  This  led  me  to  examine  with  great  care  other 
lands  I  owned  in  the  same  township,  and  I  explored  and  cut 
out  a  horse-path,  some  twenty  miles  to  the  waters  of  Fed- 
eral creek,  upon  which  these  lands  were  situated.  After 
several  visits  I  determined  to  remove  there  and  commence 
a  settlement.  Althouu:li  in  part  hillv,  the  countrv  was 
exceedingly  fertile  and  well  watered,  and  I  was  satisfied 
that  "  the  lines  had  fallen  to  me  in  pleasant  places,  and 
the  Lord  had  o-iven  me  a  o:oodlv  heritag^e." 

When  I  left  Xew  England  I  expected  to  make  farming 
the  occupation  of  my  life,  and  was  encouraged  to  do  so 
bv  my  father,*  and  I  decided  to  make  the  e.\i)eriment 
on  these  lands. 


*  About  this  time  Dr.  Cutler  wrote  to  him  as  follows:  "  It  gives  me 
mucli  pleasure  to  hear  of  the  attention  and  respect  that  has  been  paid 
you  in  the  apjtointments  you  have  received,  which  are  distinguishing: 
evidences  of  your  good  conduct.  General  Putnam  wrote  me  that  you 
were  appointed  a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  You  inform 
me  you  have  1800  acres  of  land  on  Federal  creek,  where  you  propose 
to  settle,  having  on  it  a  mill-seat  and  the  ))rospect  of  a  salt  spring.  I 
have  earnestly  wished  you  to  have  a  good  farm,  to  establish  if  possi- 
ble a  good  landed  interest  in  preference  to  trade,  or  any  other  object, 
for  there  is  nothing  in  this  country  that  will  render  a  man  so  com- 
pletely independent  and  secure  against  the  dithculties  which  arise 
from  the  changes  which  the  times,  tlie  state  of  the  country,  and  other 
contingencies  may  occasion,  and  which  are  and  always  will  be  taking 
place  in  the  world.  But  my  situation  does  not  ])ermit  me  to  form  a 
judgment  when,  or  in  what  way  this  can  best  be  done.  You  know 
that  it  requires  a  long  time  before  many  essential  parts  of  a  good 
farm  can  be  brought  to  be  productive.     Orcharding,  in  particular,  is  a 


36  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

Lieutenant  Ewing  had  sold  his  land  near  Olive  Green 
creek,  and  with  Captain  Benjamin  Brown  proposed  to  ac- 
company me  on  one  of  ray  trips  and  view  my  lands.  This 
ended  in  an  arrangement  that,  on  condition  I  would  sell 
them  one  hundred  acres,  and  donate  one  hundred  acres  to 
each,  they  would  unite  with  me  in  commencing  a  settle- 
ment. After  a  thorough  exploration  they  made  their  se- 
lection of  land,  and  Mr.  Ewing,  having  previously  made  a 
small  clearing  and  built  a  cabin,  moved  his  family  out  in 
March,  1798,  but  Captain  Brown  was  not  ready  to  com- 
mence his  improvements  until  about  the  close  of  that  year, 
and  did  not  remove  before  the  spring  of  1799. 

Better  men  could  scarcely  be  found  to  aid  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  a  new  settlement.  Lieutenant  George  Ew- 
ing was  a  native  of  New  Jersey.  He  entered  the  Revo- 
lutionary army  when  young,  was  noticed  for  his  good 
conduct  and  bravery,  and  receive(J  a  commission  as  iirst 
lieutenant  in  that  distinguished  corps,  the  Jersey  BJues. 
Soon  after  the  return  of  peace,  with  his  wife  and  young 
family,  he  set  his  face  westward,  and  for  a  few  years  re- 
sided near  Wheeling,  Virginia;  but  in  1793,  Avith  a  num- 
ber of  other  families  from  that  vicinity,  removed  to  Water- 
ford,  then  the  frontier  post  on  the  Muskingum.  They 
were  entitled  to  lands  appropriated  by  Congress  to  those 
wdio  at  that  period  adventured  their  lives  to  defend  the 
border  against  the  Indians.     They  selected  a  tract  on  the 

long  time  in  maturing.  Human  life  is  short  and  uncertain  ;  the  sooner 
such  a  work  is  undertaken  the  better,  if  circumstances  will  permit  it. 
"  In  what  I  have  written  on  this  subject,  it  has  not  been  my  desire 
to  precipitate  you  beyond  what  is  for  your  real  interest.  Of  this  you 
must  be  the  judge.  But  it  is  an  object  I  wish  you  to  keep  in  view 
above  any  other.  There  are  many  pleasing  circumstances  which  at- 
tend employment  in  public  business,  but  it  is  always  hazardous  de- 
pending on  it  for  a  living.  The  profits  usually  are  small,  it  takes  up 
much  time,  and  the  duration  of  such  business  ought  to  be  considered 
in  a  degree  precarious.  Why  can  you  not  begin  the  settlement  on 
these  lands  without  moving  immediately  on  to  them  yourself?  Will 
it  not  be  profitable  to  get  a  number  of  tenants,  if  they  can  be  procured, 
to  locate  on  such  a  tract?  Would  it  not  be  eventually  profitable  to 
give  them  almost  any  advantage  short  of  a  title  to  the  soil?" 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  37 

Muskingum,  below  the  mouth  of  Olive  Green,  about  four 
miles  above  Waterford,  where  they  built  a  stockaded  fort 
and  began  to  improve  their  lands.  By  prudence  and  vig- 
ilance they  maintained  their  position  till  the  close  of  the 
war,  with  the  loss  of  but  one  man — Abel  Sherman. 

Mr.  Ewing  possessed  a  large  fund  of  sterling  sense  and 
kindliness,  combined  with  lively  wit  and  good  humor,  and 
was  in  all  respects  a  most  worthy  man.  In  the  settlement 
on  Federal  creek,  he  was  ever  ready  to  promote  schools, 
the  library,  and  every  measure  calculated  to  advance  the 
public  good.  Captain  Benjamin  Brown  was  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  and  was  a  no  less  estimable  character.  He 
entered  the  army  in  1775,  was  a  lieutenant  in  Colonel 
Prescott's  regiment  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  was  pro- 
moted a  captain,  was  in  the  battle  of  White  Plains,  was 
at  the  taking  of  Hackensack  under  General  Parsons,  and 
in  manv  other  eno^as^ements.  He  was  the  first  man  to 
enter  the  Hessian  works  at  Saratoga,  October  7,  1777, 
when  they  were  stormed  and  taken  by  the  Americans. 
For  his  distinguished  gallantry,  he  was  offered  a  position 
on  the  staff  of  General  De  Kalb,  which  he  declined. 
Compelled  to  provide  for  the  support  of  his  family,  he  re- 
signed liis  commission  after  four  3'ears  of  meritorious 
service.  He  came  with  his  family  to  the  North-west  Ter- 
ritory in  1797.  Captain  Brown  was  a  most  useful  mem- 
ber of  the  new  settlement,  doing  much  in  every  way  for 
its  advancement.  I  think  it  is  due  to  these  two  men  to 
place  upon  record  something  of  their  achievements  and 
character.  Their  history  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  history 
of  our  beloved  country.  The  labors  and  daring  of  these 
men,  and  others  like  them,  gave  to  tliat  country  its 
national  existence.  They  possessed  an  uncommon  share 
of  courage  and  perseverance,  and  it  required  such  men  to 
begin  an  isohited  settlement  in  the  midst  of  the  hunting- 
grounds  of  the  savages,  who  regarded  the  advance  of  the 
white  man  with  little  favor.  The  rich  limestone  hills  and 
valleys,  and  the  chestnut  ridges,  furnished  abundant  food 
for  wild  animals  of  every  description,  and  the  region  for 
many  miles  around  had  not  been  invaded  by  civilized  men, 


SS  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

witli  the  exception  of  the  surveyors  of  the  Ohio  Conipuny 
and  a  few  solitary  white  hunters. 

Captain  Brown  and  I  gave  Mr,  Ewing  assurances  that 
we  would  follow  him  as  soon  as  necessary  arrangements 
could  be  made.  Circumstances,  however,  prevented  until 
April  16,  1709,  when  I  went  out  with  Joseph  Pierce  and 
Wright  Convers,  and  made  the  hrst  opening  on  my  Fed- 
eral creek  farm  hy  beginning  to  clear  a  place  for  a  cabin 
on  lot  No.  4,  town.  G,  which  township  was  afterward 
named  "Ames,"  as  a  memorial  of  the  services  of  the  Hon. 
Fisher  Ames,  (jf  Massachusetts,  in  procuring  a  settlement 
between  the  United  States  government  and  the  Ohio 
Company,  and  in  obtaining  a  grant  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand acres  of  donation  lands  to  encourage  settlements 
within  the  l)ounds  of  the  company's  purchase. 

By  the  lirst  of  May,  we  had  cut  down  the  trees  standing 
on  about  one  acre,  and  had  the  logs  ready  for  a  cabin, 
when  a  rain  fell  sufficient  to  raise  Federal  creek  so  as  to 
admit  large  pirogues  to  come  within  two  miles  of  my 
place.  I  started  at  once  with  my  two  men  and  Samuel 
Brown  for  AVaterford,  with  the  purpose  of  having  our 
goods  brought  round  by  water.  When  we  came  to  Wolf 
creek  on  our  way,  it  was  so  swelled  by  the  late  rain  as  to 
be  impassable.  We  found  a  large  bitter-nut  hickory  tree 
standing  near  the  creek,  which  we  cut  down,  and  peeled 
off  the  bark  from  about  thirtv  feet  of  the  trunk;  and  with 
the  bark  of  the  leatherwood,  which  grew  there  in  abun- 
bance,  we  sewed  up  the  two  ends;  then  smeared  the  slip- 
pery inside  with  earth,  so  that  we  could  stand  up  in  it, 
and  launched  it  into  the  creek.  We  made  some  paddles 
of  the  wood  of  the  hickory  tree,  an<l  went  aboard  our 
craft.  Finding  it  a  better  boat  than  we  expected,  instead 
of  crossing  the  stream,  as  we  at  iirst  intended,  we  con- 
cluded to  use  it  to  convey  us  down  to  Wolf  Creek  Mills, 
fifteen  miles  below.  The  current  bore  us  on  at  a  good 
speed.  Presently  we  saw  a  bear  on  the  bank  about  to 
swim  the  creek.  Having  a  ritle  on  board,  we  shot  him, 
and  landing,  carefully  placed  our  prize  in  our  frail  canoe. 
This,  with  the  four  persons,  was  rather  too  heavy  a  load, 


Life  of  Ephra'nn    Cutler.  89 

and  the  leatlierwood  str'mo-s  threatened  to  u'lve  out.  I 
laid  myself  down,  and  graspino;  my  hands  around  the 
bow  of  our  boat,  remained  in  that  position,  hohling  it 
firmly  together,  until  we  arrived  witli  our  cargo  safely  at 
the  mills. 

Pirogues  and  men  liad  ])ecMi  {ireviously  engaged,  and 
the  next  day  thev  started  with  our  ijoods  and  furniture, 
down  the  Muskingum  and  Ohio,  then  u})  the  Hocking 
river  and  Federal  creek,  a  distance,  altogethei*.  of  about 
eighty  miles. 

Captain  Brown  had  i)repared  a  cabin  on  his  land,  and 
both  his  family  and  my  own  were  now  to  be  removed. 
There  had  been  added  to  our  family  while  in  AVaterford 
two  children;  Mary,  born  July  30,  1796,  and  Daniel  C, 
born  February  20,  1799 — he  was  then  about  three  months 
old.  I,  with  four  horses,  took  Mrs.  Brown  and  Mrs.  Cut- 
ler, and  all  our  children,*  to  go  near  twenty  miles  through 


*  Judge  Cutler  gave  each  of  his  three  eldest  children  a  farm  in 
Ames. 

In  1814,  Nancy  Culler  went  with  her  uncle,  Major  Jervis  Cutler,  to 
New  England,  by  way  of  Baltimore,  just  escaping  the  British  army  as 
it  entered  the  city.  She  rode  on  horseback  from  Ohio  to  Philadelphia, 
and  thence  in  a  chaise  to  Hamilton,  Massachusetts,  where  she  remained 
at  school  nearly  three  years  After  her  return  to  Ohio,  she  married 
Rufus  Gregory  <  arter.  Her  long  and  exemplary  life  closed  in  Frank- 
lin county,  Ohio,  December  31,  1882,  in  her  ninety-third  year. 

Charles  Cutler  possessed  a  pleAsant  disposition  and  agreeable  man- 
ners. He  was  accustomed  to  the  forests  from  his  childhood,  was  per- 
fectly fearless  and  never  bewildered  in  their  depths.  Expert  in  all 
woodcraft,  he  enjoyed  equally  a  run  with  the  hounds  or  a  stroll  with 
his  rifle.  He  married,  in  1819,  Maria,  eldest  daughter  of  Hon.  George 
Walker,  and  settled  in  Ames.  He  was  colonel  of  militia  and  a  practi- 
cal surveyor.  He  finally  removed  to  Chauncy,  and  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business;  but  meeting  with  losses,  he  joined  a  California  com- 
pany, and  died  of  cholera  on  the  overland  route.  May  24,  1849,  aged 
fifty-seven  years. 

Mary  Cutler  married  Gulliver  Dean,  and  resided  on  the  farm  given  to 
her  by  her  father.  She  was  a  most  amiable,  intelligent,  Christian  lady. 
She  and  her  husband  were  among  the  earliest  pioneers  of  Methodism 
in  Ames.     She  died  February  18,  1872,  aged  seventy-six  years. 

Daniel  Goyivers  Cutler  remained  in  New  England  in  the  family  of  his 
grandfather,  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  until   1816,  when   he  returned   to 


40  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

an  entire  wilderness  to  onr  new  home.  Night  overtook 
us  before  we  were  able  to  cross  Sharp's  Fork  of  Federal 
creek,  and  we  were  obliged  to  encamp.  We  experienced 
a  very  rainy  night,  and  the  creek, .in  the  morning,  was 
rapidly  rising,  I  hurried,  and  got  Mrs.  Brown  and  Mrs. 
Cutler  and  the  children,  with  the  baggage  and  horses, 
over  the  creek,  all  except  A.  G.  Brown,  then  a  child  per- 
haps two  years  old,  whom  I  took  in  my  arms,  and  as  I 
stepped  on  a  drift  of  flood-wood  which  reached  across  the 
creek,  it  broke  away  from  the  bank.  We  were  in  danger, 
but  a  gracious  Providence  preserved  us,  and  we  got  safely 
across.  We  reached  our  c^imp,  near  which  we  afterward 
built  our  cabin,  May  7,  1799. 

The  pirogues  arrived  with  our  goods  the  next  day,  and 
landed  them  near  the  place  since  owned  by  Colonel  A. 
Boyles.  We  cut  a  road  through  the  woods  and  brush  two 
miles,  and  hauled  up  our  things  and  placed  them  in  the 
camp ;  which,  being  covered  with  black-ash  bark  that 
curled  up  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  proved  a  poor  protection 
against  the  frequent  showers.  As  the  creek  was  falling, 
we  could  not  detain  the  boatmen  to  help  raise  the  cabin 
as  we  intended,  for  this  would  prevent  them  from  getting 
their  boats  back.  Captain  Brown,  Mr.  Ewi ng,  and  I  re- 
mained and  raised  the  cabin  ;  but  we  could  not  make  and 
put  on  the  shingles,  and  it  was  more  than  two  weeks  be- 
fore the  hands  returned  to  do  it. 

We  set  ourselves  to  prepare  a  piece  of  ground  for  plant- 
ing. The  timber  was  large,  principally  beech  and  sugar- 
tree,  all  of  which  we  cut  down  and  piled,  and  burned  the 
most  of  it.  Four  acres  were  cleared  ready  to  plant  by  the 
fifteenth  of  June,  and  we  planted  it  on  the  sixteenth. 
From  this  patch  of  ground  I  raised  that  year  one  hundred 
and  fifty  bushels  of  corn  that  ripened  well.     I  had  a  fine 


Ohio.  He  married  Betsey,  daughter  of  Abel  Larkin,  Esq.,  of  Meigs 
county,  Ohio.  His  father  gave  him  a  (arm  in  Warren,  near  his  own. 
Tiiis  lie  sold  in  1857,  and  removed  to  Kansas,  where  he  died,  January 
10,  1887,  aged  eighty-niglit  years.  He  was  a  substantial  farmer,  a  good 
cilizen,  and  an  upright,  Christian  man.  The  towjiship  in  Kansas 
where  he  lived  bears  his  name. 


Life,  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  41 

lot  of  swine,  twenty  head  of  cattle,  and  two  liorses.  The 
crop  was  snfficient  to  keep  my  stock,  the  winter  being' 
mild  ;  and  to  fatten  a  good  lot  of  pork.  The  forest,  how- 
ever, was  a  great  help,  for  the  snpply  of  nnts  and  acorns 
was  inexhaustible. 

The  next  day  after  I  finished  planting,  I  had  to  find  my 
way  through  the  woods  to  Marietta,  to  attend  court.  A 
path  had  been  cut  from  Marietta  to  Athens,  which  crossed 
Federal  creek  a  little  below  Marietta  run.  I  struck 
through  the  woods  until  I  found  this  path.  I  was  thus 
called  away  to  attend  court  four  times  a  vear,  and  had  to 
spend  two  weeks  or  more  each  time.  The  Quarter  Sessions 
sat  generally  about  a  week,  then  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  commenced  and  sat  at  least  a  week.  The  judges 
had  no  per  diem  or  traveling  pay.  All  .that  the  justices 
of  the  sessions  received  was  derived  from  the  fines  in 
criminal  suits.  The  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas  had  a 
small  bill  of  costs  allowed  them  on  rendering  judgment. 
This,  when  divided,  was  but  a  small  sum  to  each.  During 
the  seven  years  I  served  in  these  courts,  my  dividend  was 
not  sufficient,  but  in  a  single  instance,  to  pa}'  ray  weekly 
board  while  at  Marietta.  I  did  not  receive  a  cent  for  ten 
weeks  of  service  each  year  in  this  interesting  period  of 
my  life,  when  every  day  was  important  in  clearing  land, 
and  securing  a  livelihood.  I  never  failed  attending  a 
single  court.  I  often  had  to  camp  in  the  wilderness  for  a 
night,  going  or  returning.  When  the  weather  would  per- 
mit, I  spanceled  my  horse  (that  is,  tied  his  fore-legs  to- 
gether with  a  cord)  and,  without  fire,  laid  down  beside 
some  old  decaying  tree  that  had  fallen,  and  thus  passed 
the  night. 

The  country  immediately  adjoining,  north  and  west  of 
us,  was  a  favorite  hunting  ground  of  the  Indians,  which 
they  never  failed  to  occupy  in  large  parties  during  the 
hunting  season,  until  the  war  of  1812  commenced,  when 
they  withdrew.  They  sometimes  visited  us,  but  did  us 
little  injury,  except  stealing  two  horses.  Tiie  bufialo  and 
elk    were    not   vet    exterminated ;    deer   and   bears    were 


42  Life  of  Ephralm   Cutler. 

abundant,   and  wild   turkeys  innumerable.     Wolves   and 
panthers  also  infested  the  woods. 

The  settlement  was  not  compact ;  the  families  that  first 
came  lived  from  one  to  two  miles  apart,  and  our  nearest 
means  of  communication  with  any  civilized  people  was  by 
a  narrow  pack-horse  track  over  hills  and  across  streams, 
sometimes  impassable,  to  the  distant  settlement  at  Wolf 
-creek  mills.  Our  friends  considered  us  in  a  dans^erous 
situation,  quite  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization,  in  the 
midst  of  a  howlinij  wilderness. 

We,  of  course,  depended  on  these  mills  for  grain  and 
meal.  Several  persons  Mdio  were  indebted  to  me  when  I 
left  Waterford  agreed  to  leave  grain  at  the  mills  for  me. 
The  next  fall,  after  we  moved  on  to  Federal  creek,  as  Mr. 
Ewing  was  going  to  the  mill,  and  our  stock  of  bread-stuff 
was  about  expended,  we  sent  with  him  our  horses  and 
Charles,  not  yet  eight  years  old,  to  bring  home  a  grist  for 
us.  The  next  day  Charles  discovered  about  noon  that 
Mr.  Ewing  would  be  detained  another  day;  being  natur- 
ally of  a  fearless  disposition,  he  got  the  miller  to  load  his 
horses,  and  mounted  and  started  home  alone.  We  were 
expecting  him.  The  wolves  had  given  us  a  very  unwel- 
come serenade  durins:  the  evening  ;  his  mother  felt  un- 
easy,  and  could  not  retire  to  rest,  but  a  little  after  mid- 
night she  was  relieved,  and  assured  of  his  safety,  by  hear- 
ing his  voice  singing  cheerily  as  he  came  through  the 
woods. 

The  settlers  soon  wearied  of  conveying  grists  and  goods 
on  pack-horses,  and  the  next  winter  determined  to  cut  out 
a  wider  and  better  road  which  could  be  used  for  teams. 
A  beginning  was  made,  but  at  the  end  of  ten  miles,  the 
weather  became  so  unpleasant  that  the  party  broke  up 
and  all  returned  home,  except  Joseph  Brown  and  myself. 
We  had  a  horse  and  a  sled  with  a  voke  of  oxen  with  us, 
and  proceeded  toward  the  mills,  cutting  our  way  as  we 
went.  The  days  at  that  time  of  year  are  short,  and  as  it 
snowed  incessantly,  the  hours  of  daylight  were  few,  and 
night  found  us  only  four  miles  from  the  place  we  left  tliat 
morning,  and   the    snow    a   foot    deep.      With  flint    and 


Life  of  Ephrdim   Cn/lfr.  4'> 

tinder  we  lighted  a  lire  and  canii)ed  down  for  the  night. 
The  next  mornine;  we  found  several  inches  of  snow  on  tlie 
blanket  that  covered  us.  We  continued  our  tedious 
iournev  which,  as  the  cold  increased,  a;rcw  everv  mile 
more  difficult.  The  horse  tired  of  so  slow  a  march  l)roke 
from  us  and  pursue<l  his  way  toward  the  Muskingum. 
Leaving  Brown  with  the  team,  I  endeavored  to  overtake 
and  secure  him,  but  although  I  two  or  thiH'c  t lines  got 
near  enough  to  grasp  his  tail,  he  sprang  from  me,  and 
after  following  a  mile  or  two,  I  gave  up  the  pursuit  ;  and 
the  next  time  I  heard  of  him  was  at  TIarmar,  where  he 
came  in  with  the  harness  and  collar  about  his  neck.  I 
was  myself  chilled  through  and  almost  exhausted  ;  and 
when  I  D^ot  back  to  vouno-  Brown,  he  was  crying  with 
cold,  and  in  despair  of  ever  getting  to  any  settlement.  I 
encouraged  him  to  keep  on,  and  we  soon  got  into  a  road 
which  Mr.  Proctor  had  cut  out  to  the  land  u[)on  which 
he  afterward  settled.  We  had  now  but  littk^  chopping  to 
do,  but  the  snow  was  still  falling,  and  at  every  step  we 
sank  into  it  some  inches  above  our  knees.  Brown  began 
to  grow  stupid,  and  it  was  only  by  frequently  shaking  him 
that  I  could  rouse  him  and  keep  him  from  going  to  sleep. 
About  midnight  we  came  to  Mr.  William  Ford's,  the  first 
habitation.  Here,  the  night  being  intensely  cold,  a  good 
fire  was  burning;  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ford  arose  to  receive 
us,  and  kindly  administered  to  our  necessities;  })utting 
our  hands  and  feet,  which  were  badly  frozen,  into  cold 
spring  water,  and  carefully  bathing  our  faces,  which  were 
in  about  the  same  condition.  It  was  several  days  before 
we  could  leave  their  hospitable  house;  and  much  longer 
before  we  were  able  to  return  home  with  the  grist  for 
which  we  had  made  this  comfortless  journey.  That  snow 
is  remembered  by  the  old  settlers  as  the  deepest  ever 
known  in  this  part  of  the  country.  I  have  always  con- 
sidered it  a  merciful  Providence  that  our  lives  were  })i-c- 
served. 

The  first  territorial  legislature,  at  their  second  session, 
passed,  November  27,  1800,  "An  act  authorizing  the  leas- 
ing of  lands  granted  for  the  support  of  schools  and   for 


44  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

religious  purposes  in  the  county  of  Washington,"  and  ap- 
pointed seven  commissioners  or  trustees  to  carry  out  the 
act,  and  named  me  as  one.  I  accepted  the  trust,  and  was, 
with  the  Hon,  Isaac  Pierce,  authorized  by  the  board  of 
trustees  to  personally  examine,  and  at  our  discretion  to 
lease  for  seven  years,  any  tract  that  should  be  applied  for 
in  the  school  or  ministerial  sections  IN'os.  16  and  29,  in 
each  township  west  of  the  east  line  of  Range  IX.  This 
duty  was  a  laborious  one,  and  occasioned  us  considerable 
travel  in  the  wilderness.  We  were  called  to  view  and 
lease  a  number  of  sections  in  Gallia  county,  one  of  which 
composed  a  part  of  the  out-lots  of  Gallipolis.  The  whole 
board  assembled  to  put  a  value  on  the  city  lots  situated 
within  the  bounds  of  section  29,  Range  VIII,  at  Marietta. 
[In  a  letter  from  Judge  Cutler  to  his  father.  Rev.  Dr. 
Cutler,  dated  "Marietta,  January  8,  1801,"  he  says  of  this 
meetino; :  "  I  am  now  here  attending  a  meeting  of  the 
trustees  for  the  county  of  Washington  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  on  the  principles  for  leasing  all  the  ministerial 
and  school  lands  in  the  Ohio  Compan3^'s  purchase.  In 
the  session  of  our  legislature  which  met  in  October  last. 
Griffin  Green,  Robert  Oliver,  Jonathan  Stone,  Isaac 
Pierce,  Ephraim  Cutler,  Benjamin  I.  Oilman,  and  William 
Rufus  Putnam  *  were  incorporated   as  a  body  corporate 


*  William  Kufus  Putnam,  born  in  {{inland,  Massachusetts,  Decem- 
ber 12,  1771,  was  a  son  of  General  Kufus  Putnam,  wlio  superintended 
the  first  settlement  made  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  April  7,  1788.  fie  was 
educated  at  a  school  in  charge  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Dwight,  afterward 
president  of  Yale  College.  He  came  to  Marietta  in  1790,  and  assisted 
his  father,  who  was  a  director  of  the  Ohio  C.)mpany  and  surveyor-gen- 
eral of  the  United  States.  Jn  1801,  he  was  a  representative  from 
Washington  county  in  the  teriitoi'ial  legislatuie,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  as  an  able  speaker  and  law-maker.  He  was  regarded 
as  a  young  man  of  great  promise,  and  no  public  station  need  have 
been  beyond  his  ambition.  But  alter  the  ^tate  government  was 
formed,  like  many  other  true  men,  he  would  not  surrender  his  princi- 
ples to  secure  {)ublic  favor,  and  therefore  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  he  held  no  office  out  of  his  own  county — a  comp.irative  ob- 
scurity which  he  liore  with  great  cheerfulness. 

In  1826,  he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  state 
legislature,  and  was  re-elected  the  next  year,  alter  which  he  served  a 


Life  of  LJphraim   Cutler.  45 

and  politic  forever,  to  hold  in  trust  the  lots  Nos.  29  and 
16,  in  each  township  of  the  Ohio  Company's  purchase, 
and  were  empowered  to  lease  lot  H^o.  29  in  the  town  of 
Marietta  (where  it  has  been  built  upon,  or  may  be  here- 
after built  upon),  with  permanent  leases.  Houses  worth 
two  thousand  dollars  and  upward  are  entitled  to  a  perma- 
nent lease  for  one  acre,  and  houses  of  less  value  to  a  less 
quantity.  A  house  of  the  value  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  is  e-utitled  to  one-third  of  an  acre,  but  houses  of 
less  value  are  not  entitled  to  a  permanent  lease.  The 
permanent  leases  are  to  bear  such  rent  as  the  trustees 
aifix,  provided  the  same  do  not  exceed  ten  dollars  for  one- 
third  of  an  acre,  or  be  less  than  one  dollar.  The  other 
lands  in  lot  ISTo.  29  in  Marietta  are  to  be  leased  for  a  term 
not  exceeding  seven  years,  nor  less  than  three  years,  at  a 
sum  not  exceeding  five  dollars  for  one-third  of  an  acre. 
The  lands  in  all  the  other  lots  in  the  purchase  are  to  be 
leased  for  such  improvements  as  the  trustees  may  think 
proper,  for  a  term  not  to  exceed  seven  years,  nor  less  than 
three  years. 

"The  law  places  ample  powers  in  the  hands  of  the 
trustees,  and  is  universally  agreeable  to  the  wishes  of  the 
people.  This  is  our  first  meeting.  We  have  fixed  upon 
certain  leading  principles  by  which  to  be  governed  in  the 
conducting  of  this  business,  the  wisdom  of  which  will 
now  be  put  to  the  test  of  experiment.  There  has  been 
the  greatest  harmony  and  union  of  sentiment  with  the 
trustees,  wdiich,  if  it  continues,  will  add  to  our  usefulness, 
and  I  have  not  the  most  distant  fear  of  the  contrary." 

The  care  which  the  trustees  exercised  in  the  manage- 
ment of  their  trust  is  shown  by  the  following  lease,  found 
among  Judge  Cutler's  papers  : 

"  This  Indenture,  made  the  first  day  of  April,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  one, 


'term  in  the  Senate.  In  ]840,  he  was  one  of  the  presidential  electors 
at  large  on  the  Harrison  ticket.  He  was  for  many  years  an  efficient 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Ohio  University,  at  Athens, 
and  a  pillar  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Marietta. 


4(1  Life  of  Ei>hraim    Cutler, 

between  the  Trustees  for  managing  lands  granted  for  Ke- 
ligious  purposes  and  for  the  support  of  Scliools  in  the 
county  of  Washington  witliin  tlie  Ohio  Company's  pur- 
chase of  the  one  part ;  and  Hugh  Boyle  of  Ames  in  the 
County  of  Washington,  North-west  Territory,  Esquire,  of 
the  other  part,  Witnesseth,  That  the  said  Trustees,  in  pur- 
suance of  the  seventeenth  section  of  the  law  of  the  Ter- 
ritory aforesaid,  passed  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  Novem- 
ber one  thousand  eight  hundred,  intituled,  'An  Act  author- 
izing the  leasing  of  land  granted  for  the  support  of 
Schools,  and  for  Religious  purposes  in  the  County  of 
Washington,'  have  granted,  leased,  and  to  farm  let  unto 
the  said  Hugh  Boyle,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  a  certain  tract 
or  parcel  of  land  situate  in  tlie  township  of  Ames  afore- 
said, butted  and  bounded  as  follows,  viz :  Mile  lot  No.  16 
in  the  12th  Township  in  the  Fifteenth  Range,  granted  for 
the  support  of  Schools ;  for  the  term  of  seven  years,  com- 
mencing from  and  after  the  First  day  of  April  Instant,  on 
condition  that  the  following  improvements  shall  be  made 
w'hich  the  said  Hugh  Boyle  covenants  and  agrees  to  make, 
do  aiid  perform  on  pemxlty  of  one  hundred  dollars,  in 
which  sum  he  binds  himself,  his  heirs  and  assigns  to  pay 
to  the  Trustees  aforesaid  if  the  follow^ing  conditions  are 
not  complied  with  on  his  part  viz  : — not  to  make  unneces- 
sary waste  of  timber,  nor  to  injure  sugar  trees,  and  within 
seven  years  from  the  commencement  of  his  term  to  clear 
Twelve  acres  of  all  trees,  brush  and  wood.  Five  acres  of 
which  shall  be  suitable  orchard  ground,  and  set  out  or 
planted  with  Two  hundred  apple-trees,  thrifty  and  of  a 
proper  size  to  set  in  an  orchard;  which  orchard  shall  be 
enclosed  by  itself  with  a  good  and  lawful  fence  and  kept 
in  constant  repair,  and  no  animals  of  any  kind  suft'ered  to 
feed  or  graze  therein  ;  the  remainder  of  the  Twelve  acres 
to  be  the  most  suitable  land  for  meadow,  and  seeded  in  a 
proper  manner  with  herds-grass  and  clover  seeds,  and  the 
said  meadow  shall  be  fenced  and  improved  in  a  good  hus- 
bandman-like manner.  —  Furthermore,  the  said  Hugh 
Bovlc  covenants,  that  within  the  term  of  his  lease  he  will 
clear  six   acres   in   a   suitable   manner  for  pasturing,  and 


Life  of  Ephraim    Cutler.  47 

seed  the  same  with  a  proper  quantity  of  clover  and  herds- 
grass  seed;  and  also  that  he  will  clear  in  a  proper  manner 
and  have  under  improvement  and  cultivation  at  the  end 
of  his  term  ; — the  several  lots  of  land  covenanted  and 
agreed  to  be  cleared  as  aforesaid  shall  be  separately  en- 
closed with  a  good  and  snfHcient  fence  agreeably  to  the 
law  of  the  Territory,  when  the  said  Hugh  Boyle  is  to 
yield  peaceable  and  quiet  possession, 

"In  witness  whereof  the  said  Trustees  liave  caused  Wm. 
Rufus  Putnam,  their  clerk,  to  subscribe  his  name  and  aflix 
the  seal  of  the  Cori)oration,  and  the  said  Hugh  Boyle 
hath  also  interchangeably  set  his  hand  and  seal  the  day 
and  year  first  above  written, 

"Hugh  Boyle.  [seal.] 

"  Wm.  Rufus  Putnam,     [seal.] 

"  Sisfued  Sealed  and  Delivered 
in  presence  of 
"  Benja.  Beadle, 
"James  Convers." 

In  a  letter  dated  April  25,  1801,  Judge  Cutler  writes  to 
his  father  :  "  The  trustees  for  num aging  lands  granted  for 
religious  purposes  and  the  support  of  schools  in  this 
countv  have  had  a  lone;  session.  We  have  conducted  our 
business  thus  far  with  the  utmost  harmony.  We  have 
fixed  the  ground  rent  for  permanent  leases  at  Marietta  on 
about  twenty  lots.  The  rent  is  fixed  from  about  four  to 
eight  dollars  for  one-third  of  an  acre,  according  to  the 
situation.  The  other  parts  of  that  lot  are  leased  for  seven 
years,  in  consideration  of  having  certain  improvements 
made — orchards  set  out,  and  the  like,  but  no  rent  paid 
until  this  lease  expires." 

In  the  letter,  dated  at  Ames,  from  which  the  foregoing 
extract  is  taken,  the  writer  also  gives  some  items  respect- 
ing the  progress  of  the  new  settlements  on  Federal  creek: 
"When  I  first  moved  out  here,  a  tract  of  country  thirtv 
miles  square,  nearly  in  the  center  of  which  the  university 
townships  are  situated,  was  incorporated   by  the  name  of 


48  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

Middletown.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  within  its  bounds 
at  that  time  were  settled  on  the  college  lands,  except  a 
few  on  one  or  two  school  or  ministerial  lots  lying  on  the 
Hockhocking  river.  Those  who  came  out  with  me,  and 
those  who  have  moved  here  since,  are  freeholders,  and, 
generally  speaking,  are  a  ver}^  different  class  of  people 
from  those  who  settled  on  the  public  lands;  therefore,  at 
our  last  court,  by  the  united  petition  of  our  inhabitants, 
we  were  incorporated  by  the  name  of  Ames.  This  name 
I  proposed  to  the  people,  and  they  unanimously  agreed  to 
it  (after  offering  and  insisting  upon  the  name  of  Cutler,- 
which  I  thought  best  to  oppose).  The  able  support  the 
Hon.  Fisher  Ames  gave  you  and  the  other  directors,  in 
settling  your  business  wdth  Congress,  and  his  enlightened, 
enlarged,  and  truly  just  ideas  respecting  the  western 
country  and  politics  in  general,  with  other  reasons,  in- 
duced me  to  fix  on  this  name. 

"  We  have  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  souls  in  Ames, 
which  was  two  years  ago  a  howling  wilderness,  where  only 
wnld  beasts  and  hostile  savages  were  found.  Suffer  me  to 
say,  for  it  has  cost  me  months  of  toil  and  anxiety,  that  of 
this  settlement  I  look  upon  myself  as  the  sole  founder.  I 
do  think  that  its  native  w^oods  would  yet  clothe  every 
foot  of  it,  if  I  had  not  stepped  forward  and  made  the  ex- 
ertions I  have,  regardless  of  trouble  and  fatigue.  But  I 
am  richly  repaid  by  the  success  which  has  crowned  the 
undertakino-. 

"  The  township  of  Ames  contains  about  one-fourth  of 
the  territory  of  what  w^as  formerly  Middletown.  There 
are  in  the  latter  nine  hundred  and  seventy-three  inhabi- 
tants  mostly  on  the  college  lands.  There  are  now"  ten 
families  living  within  about  two  miles  of  me  ;  and  fifteen 
others,  at  a  greater  distance,  have  moved  on  to  their  land 
and  begun  clearing;  and  thirty  more  families  are  expected 
this  spring.  These  who  are  now,  or  are  soon  to  be  my 
neighbors,  were  most  of  them  induced  to  move  here  from 
personal  friendship  for  me,  or  were  influenced  by  me  to 
come. 

"  We  have  had   one  of  the  finest  winters  for  business  I 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  49 

ever  knew.  I  have  employed  three  hands  all  winter  to  as 
great  advantage  almost  as  I  could  in  summer.  I  have 
got  my  barn  (forty-six  by  thirty  feet)  built ;  my  saw-mill 
all  framed  and  the  gears  made,  and  have  dug  a  race  forty- 
five  rods  long,  and  hope  to  get  my  saw-mill  to  run  in 
three  or  four  weeks,  and  my  grist-mill  before  next 
winter."]  Judge  Cutler,  in  his  narrative,  says  :  The  re- 
spectability and  success  of  the  settlement  at  Ames  resulted 
I  believe  from  the  character  of  its  early  citizens,  and  the 
direction  they  gave  to  its  affairs.  Of  these,  besides  Cap- 
tain Brown  and  Lieutenant  Ewing  before  mentioned, 
were  Silvanus  Ames  (afterward  judge)  and  his  accom- 
plished and  estimable  wife,  who  came  here  in  1800,  and 
near  the  same  time  the  worthy  Deacon  Joshua  Wyatt  and 
his  wife,  a  pious  and  intelligent  woman,  also  Mr.  John 
Brown  and  Colonel  Absalom  Boyles,  both  prominent  and 
useful  men.  About  1804,  a  number  of  good  families 
moved  into  the  township,  among  them  Judge  George 
Walker,  an  active  and  influential  citizen,  Mr.  Jason  Rice, 
Mr.  Abel  Glazier,  and  other  desirable  accessions. 

The  settlers  very  early  entered  into,  an  agreement  not 
to  use  ardent  spirits  at  elections,  on  the  fourth  of  July,  at 
social  parties,  raisings,  logging-bees,  or  any  public  occa- 
sion, and  to  this  engagement  they  strictly  adhered  for 
many  years.  The  Sabbath  was  also  observed  as  a  day  of 
rest,  and  meetings  for  public  worship  were  held,  conducted 
by  Deacon  Wyatt.  On  these  occasions  Burder's  Village 
Sermons  were  usually  read. 

Schools  of  an  elevated  character  were  soon  established. 
In  1801,  my  cousin,  Moses  Everett,  taught  a  school  in  a 
room  of  my  house.  He  afterward  kept  a  school  in  Galli- 
polis.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Moses  Everett,  of  Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1796. 
He  entered  the  army  and  died  at  Fort  Erie  in  1814.  The 
next  teacher  was  my  brother,  Charles  Cutler,*  who  came 


*  Charles  Cutler,  son  of   Rev.    Manasseh  Cutler,   LL.D.,  was   born 
March  26,  1773;  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1793;  taught  in  the 


50  Life  of  JEphraim   Cutler. 

to  Ohio  earlv  in  1802.  He  srraduated  at  Harvard  Colles-e 
ill  1793,  and  taught  school  several  years  in  Boston.  He 
was  a  man  of  ability  and  a  iine  scholar.  He  came  to  the 
west,  on  account  of  his  health,  and  died  at  my  house  in 
Ames,  September  17,  1805, 

I  took  the  United  States  Gazette,  at  that  time  the  only 
paper  taken  in  the  place,  and  this,  except  by  fortunate 
accident,  did  not  iirrive  much  oftener  than  once  in  three 
months.  In  our  isolated  situation,  we  felt  the  need  of 
other  means  of  acquiring  information.  At  a  public  meet- 
ing of  tlie  inhabitants  of  Ames,  called  to  devise  means  to 
improve  our  roads,  and  to  consult  about  making  one  to 
connect  the  settlement  at  Sunday  creek  with  that  on  Fed- 
eral creek,  held  in  the  autumn  of  1802 ;  the  intellectual 
wants  of  the  neighborhood  became  the  sulyect  of  the  con- 
versation. It  was  suggested  that  a  library  would  su})pl3' 
what  was  needed,  but  the  settlers  had  no  money,  and, 
with  few  exceptions,  were  in  debt  for  their  lands.  The 
question  of  ways  and  means  was  discussed.  Mr.  Josiah 
True,  of  Sunday  creek  settlement,  proposed  to  obtain  the 


South  Latin  School,  Boston.  Went  into  tlie  army  in  1798  as  lieuten- 
ant and  quartermaster  of  the  15th  regiment,  stationed  at  Portland, 
Maine;  returned  to  Boston  in  18UI',  and  read  law  with  Hon.  Harrison 
G.  Otis.  On  account  of  ill-health  came  to  Ohio  in  1802,  and  died  at 
the  age  of  thirty-two  years.     He  was  a  talented  and  scholarly  man. 

In  a  bundle  of  faded  letters,  the  following  note  from  Mr.  Cutler's 
scholars  was  found. 

"Ames,  April  13,  1803.  Mr.  Charles  Cutler.  Sir:  The  time  having 
arrived  which  dissolves  the  relation  of  tutor  and  pupils,  which  has  sub- 
sisted between  us,  we  can  not  take  leave  of  you  without  expressing  a 
lively  sense  of  the  obligations  we  are  under  for  the  care  and  attention 
with  which  you  have  directed  our  studies.  The  progress  we  have  made 
under  the  many  disadvantages  which  both  you  and  we  have  had  to  en- 
counter, must,  in  a  great  measure,  be  owing  to  your  uncommon  skill  and 
unwearied  diligence.  Accept,  therefore,  sir,  our  tribute  of  thanks  and 
be  assured  that  while  the  vital  spark  continues  to  warm  our  hearts, 
the  name  ol  Mr.  Cutler  shall  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 
George  Ewing,  Jr.,  Sally  Ewing,  Rachel  Ewing,  Abigail  Evving,  Hannah 
H.  Ewing,  Thomas  Ewing,  John  Brown,  Kichard  Lenox,  Samuel 
Brown,  Aphia  Brown,  Patience  Brown,  Anna  Steine,  John  Boyles, 
Eleanor  Lenox,  Ji)seph  Brown,  Martin  Boyles,  .Tane  H.  Ewing,  Abra- 
ham Lenox,  .John  Lenox,  James  Lenox." 


Life  of  JSphraim  Cutler.  51 

means  by  catching  'coons,  and  sending  their  skins  to  Bos- 
ton by  Samuel  Brown,  Esq.,  who  expected  to  go  east  in  a 
wagon  the  next  summer.  Esquire  Brown  was  present 
and  assented  to  this  proposition.  Our  young  men  were 
active  hunters ;  the  'coon  skins  and  other  furs  were  fur- 
nished and  sent  to  market,  and  tlie  books  were  bought. 
The  Rev.  Thaddeus  Harris  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh 
Cutler  selected  for  us  about  fifty  volumes  of  choice  books, 
and  to  these  additions  were  made  from  time  to  time.  As 
the  settlement  increased  and  children  grew  up,  readers 
were  multiplied,  and  all  could  have  access  to  the  library. 

More  than  fifty  young  men  were  trained  under  these  in- 
fluences and  have  gone  out  into  the  world  ;  some  as  intelli- 
gent farmers,  some  as  successful  merchants,  others  as  pro- 
fessional teachers,  lawyers,  and  judges,  or  ministers  of  the 
gospel — and  all  have  been  useful  and  respectable  citizens. 

Several  of  the  number  were  educated  at  the  Ohio  Uni- 
versity; among  these  was  the  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing,  who, 
by  his  talents  and  industry,  achieved  as  a  lawyer,  states- 
men, and  cabinet  otiicer  a  national  reputation.* 


*Another  remarkable  instance  is  the  Rev.  Edward  R.  Ames,  D.D., 
the  late  eloquent  and  distinguished  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 


52  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Territorial  Legislature — The  Convention. 

In  September,  1801,  I  was  elected  a  member  of  the  ter- 
ritorial legislature  for  the  county  of  Washington,  William 
R.  Putnam,  Esquire,  being  the  other  member.  We  were 
elected  to  fill  vacancies  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of 
the  Hon.  Paul  Fearing,  who  had  been  elected  delegate  to 
Congress,  and  Colonel  Return  J.  Meigs,  Jr.,  recently  ap- 
pointed a  judge  of  the  general  court  of  the  territory.  We 
attended  the  assembly,  which  commenced  its  session  at 
Chillicothe  on  the  23d  of  J^ovember.  It  was  the  last  ses- 
sion held  under  elections  authorized  by  the  territorial 
government.  I  have  seen  scarcely  any  notice  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  body  in  any  history  of  Ohio.  I  think  it 
deserves  to  be  remembered. 

The  governor's  council,  or  senate,  was  composed  of  the 
following  persons:  Colonel  Robert  Oliver,*  president; 
Colonel  David  Vance ;  Jacob  Burnet,  Esq.:  Solomon  Sib- 
ley, Esq.;  and  General  James  Pindley.  The  last  named, 
however,  did  not  attend. 

Of  the  house  of   representatives.  Dr.  Edward    Tiffin  f 


*  Colonel  Robert  Oliver  was  of  Irish  descent.  He  was  born  in  1738, 
in  Boston,  Mass.  He  was  in  the  revolutionary  army  nearly  eight 
years,  and  served  as  captain  at  the  siege  of  Boston  in  1775;  was  major 
in  the  Third  Massachusetts  Regiment  in  1777,  and  was  promoted 
brigade  major  in  1780,  and  brevet  colonel  in  1782.  He  was  distin- 
guished for  bravery  at  the  storming  of  the  Hessian  intrenchments  at 
Saratoga.  He  was  acting  adjutant-general  of  the  northern  army,  and 
an  excellent  disciplinarian.  He  came  to  Marietta  in  1788,  and  in  1790 
succeeded  General  Samuel  Holden  Parsons  as  one  of  the  directors  of 
the  Ohio  Company.  President  Adams  appointed  him  one  of  the  legis- 
lative council  of  the  territory,  and  he  was  president  of  that  body  from 
1800  to  1803.     He  died,  May,  1810. 

f  Dr.  Edward  Tiffin  was  born  in  Carlisle,  England,  June  19,  1766. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  years  he  came  to  America  and  settled  at  Charles- 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  53 

was  speaker,  and  John  Reily,  Esq.,  clerk.  The  members 
were  General  Thomas  "VVorthiugton,  Major  EliSs  Lang- 
ham,  from  Ross;  General  Nathaniel  Massie  and  General 
Joseph  Darlinton,  from  Adams ;  Judge  Francis  Dunlavy, 
John  Smith,  Jeremiah  Morrow,  Moses  Miller,  John  Lud- 
low, Daniel  Reeder,  and  Jacob  "White,  from  Hamilton  ; 
William  Rufus  Putnam  and  Ephraim  Cutler,  from  Wash- 
ington ;  Zenas  Kimberly,  Thomas  McCune,  and  John  Mil- 
ligan,  from  Jefferson  ;  General  Edward  Paine,  from  Trum- 
bull; Jonathan  Schieffelin,  George  McDougall,  and  Colonel 
Francis  Joncaire  Chabert,  from  Wayne.  The  county  of 
Wayne,  of  which  Detroit  was  the  seat  of  justice,  was 
detached  from  Ohio  on  the  formation  of  the  state,  and 
became  a  part  of  Indiana  Territory,  and  afterward  Michi- 
gan. 

The  public  mind,  particularly  in  Hamilton,  Ross,  and 
Adams  counties,  had  been  inflamed  by  demagogues  espe- 
cially against  Governor  St.  Clair.  There  was  also  an 
effort  made  by  certain  persons  to  obtain  the  passage  of  an 
act  by  the  legislature  asking  Congress  to  pass  a  law  ad- 
mitting us  into  the  Union.  A  majority  of  the  citizens  of 
Washington  county  were  decidedly  opposed  to  this  move- 
ment. Another  train  of  policy  was  suggested  by  some  of 
our  most  able  and  experienced  men.  This  was  to  divide 
the  North-west  Territory  into  states,  to  be  composed  ot 
territory  embracing  about  two  hundred  miles  square. 
They  were  convinced  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  most 
of  it  would  be  as  densely  populated  as  any  portion  of  the 
United  States. 

A  division  of  the  territory  was  proposed  by  making  the 
Scioto  and  a  line  to  run  north  to  the  lake  the  western 
boundary  of  the  future  eastern  state ;  and  a  like  amount 


town,  Virginia.  M.D.  University  of  Pennsylvania,  1789;  removed  to 
Chillicothe,  Ohio,  1798;  speaker  of  the  territorial  [.legislature,  1799; 
president  of  the  constitutional  convention,  1802;  first  governor  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  1S03  to  1807;  United  States  senator,  1807  to  1809;  ap- 
pointed by  Madison  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  1812; 
and  Surveyor-General  of  the  North-west,  1815.  Died  at  Chillicothe, 
Ohio,  August  9,  1829. 


54  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

of  territory,  west  of  that  line  and  river,  to  form  another 
distinct  state.  Previous  to  the  passage  of  the  celebrated 
ordinance  for  dividing  and  governing  the  North-west  Ter- 
ritory (1787),  an  act  or  ordinance  had  passed  Congress  de- 
claring that  states  formed  out  of  that  territory  should  be 
made  to  comprehend  a  space  not  to  exceed  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  square.*  Such  men  as  the  venerable  Gen- 
eral Putnam,  Judge  Gilman,  and  Judge  Woodbridge  saw 
clearly  that  to  consider  the  ordinance  of  1787  as  a  contract 
binding  on  the  future  settlers  of  the  vast  Korth-west  Ter- 
ritory to  constitute  five  states  only,  would  deprive  the 
future  inhabitants  of  this  region,  when  it  became  densely 
populated,  of  a  just  weight  in  the  senate  of  the  United 
States  government.! 

Our  friends  at  home  had  prepared  a  bill  to  be  presented 
by  some  member  during  the  coming  session  of  the  legis- 
lature, declaring  the  assent  of  the  territory  to  such  a  di- 
vision as  that  proposed  above  with  a  view  to  have  the 
action  of  Congress  accord  with  it,  and,  of  course,  a  terri- 
torial   government   for   each   of    these    described   limits. 


*  It  will  be  seen  in  the  journals  of  Congress,  September  13,  1783 
that  Virginia  made  it  one  of  the  conditions  upon  which  she  yielded 
her  right  to  the  lands  north-west  of  the  Ohio,  "that  the  territory  so 
ceded  should  be  laid  out  and  formed  into  states  containing  a  suitable 
extent  of  territory,  not  less  than  100  nor  more  than  150  miles  square, 
or  as  near  thereto  as  circumstances  will  admit."  To  this  Congress 
agreed  in  accepting  the  cession.  April  23,  1784,  Congress  approved  a 
proposition  to  make  a  state  east  of  a  line  drawn  due  north  from  the 
western  cape  of  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Kanawha,  the  territory  of  the 
state  to  lie  between  that  meiidian,  Lake  Erie,  the  western  line  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  Ohio  river.  This  state  would  have  been  as 
large  as  either  of  the  New  England  states  then  organized,  or  as  Dela- 
ware, New  Jersey,  or  Maryland. 

J  At  a  Washington  county  convention,  held  in  June,  1801,  of  which 
a  number  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  were  members,  the  following 
resolution  was  adopted  and  sent  to  their  representatives:  '^Resolved, 
That  in  our  opinion,  it  would  be  highly  impolitic,  and  very  injurious 
to  the  inhabitants  of  this  territory,  to  enter  into  a  state  government 
at  this  time.  Therefore  we,  in  behalf  of  our  constituents,  do  request 
that  you  will  use  your  best  endeavors  to  prevent,  and  steadily  oppose 
the  adoption  of  any  measures  that  may  be  taken  for  that  purpose." 


Life  of  JEphraim  Cutler.  55 

When  this  bill  was  presented  for  the  action  of  the  legis- 
lature, a  violent  opposition  prevailed  for  a  time  in  the 
house ;  and  there  was  also  a  clamor  raised,  and  an  excite- 
ment was  gotten  up  in  Chillicothe  directed  against  the 
governor  (St.  Clair),  and  in  some  measure  against  Putnam 
and  me.  A  mob  collected  and  attacked  Gregg's  house, 
where  the  governor,  Judges  Burnet  and  Sibley,  Colonel 
Oliver,  General  Schenk,  and  the  Detroit  and  Washington 
county  members  boarded.  A  determination  was  mani- 
fested to  insult  Governor  St.  Clair  and  those  members 
who  were  supposed  to  be  the  main  supporters  of  the 
measure.  An  entrance  was  forced  into  Gregg's  house, 
in  the  hall  of  which  a  citizen  of  Chillicothe  (Michael 
Baldwin)  met  and  struck  Mr.  Schieffelin,  who  immediately 
drew  his  dirk,  and  would  assuredly  have  wounded  the 
man,  had  not  his  arm  been  arrested  by  some  friends  who 
were  near.  Governor  St.  Clair  came  from  his  chamber, 
and  moved  about  among  the  crowd,  perfectly  calm  and 
collected ;  but  there  were  none  who  dared  to  molest  him. 
He  addressed  them,  and  they  dispersed  without  doing 
many  violent  acts.  A  toast,  given  by  Mr.  Putnam  at  a 
supper  party,  "  May  the  Scioto  lave  the  borders  of  two 
great  and  flourishing  states,"  seemed  to  have  been  used  to 
excite  the  passions  of  the  mob. 

The  bill  passed  the  legislature,  but  was  of  no  avail ; 
it  rather  caused  those  desirous  of  coming  into  a  state  to 
be  more  vigorous  in  their  efforts.*     A  number  of  iinport- 


*  The  Hon.  Dudley  Woodbridge  writes  from  Marietta,  December  29, 
1801,  to  Judge  Cutler:  "We  yesterday  hud  a  meeting  to  consult  on 
the  proper  steps  to  be  taken  to  biing  about  a  division  of  the  territory, 
or  rather  to  confront  the  doings  of  those  who  are  opposed  to  the  reso- 
lution of  the  legislature  on  that  subject.  .  .  .  The  steps  proposed 
are  to  send  to  the  city  of  Washington  a  map  of  the  territory,  and  state 
the  utility  of  the  division  by  letters  to  our  friends  in  Congress.  What 
measures  we  shall  conclude  on  I  am  not  certain — thus  mucli  is  true, 
we  appear  all  united  in  the  expediency  of  a  division  as  proposed  and 
shall  take  such  steps  as  will  conduce  to  bring  it  about,  if  possi- 
ble. .  .  .  We  hear  that  mobs  are  around  you,  that  you  will  prob- 
ably adjourn  this  session  to  Cincinnati,  this,  however,  I  can  not  think 
is  true.     The  present  reminds  me  of  Shays  and  those  times." 


56  Life  of  Ejphraiyn  Cutler. 

ant  subjects  were  under  discussion  during  this  long  ses- 
sion of  1801-2.  We  (Mr.  Putnam  and  I)  were  the  young- 
est members  of  the  house,  excepting  Governor  Morrow,* 
who  is  a  Uttle  younger  than  I  am.  My  inexperience  led 
me  to  tremble  at  the  responsibilities  of  the  position,  but 
the  benefit  of  associating  with,  and  enjoying  the  confi- 
dence of,  such  men  as  Governor  St.  Clair,  Judg-es  Burnet 
and  Sibley,  and  others  with  whom  we  boarded  at  Gregg's, 
and  who  were  all  exceedingly  friendly,  was  very  great.  I  was 
encouraged  to  take  an  active  part  in  business,  and  of  neces- 
sity became  accustomed  to  debate  the  measures  Iw^ished  to 
have  adopted,  and  was  placed  upon  important  committees. 
Governor  Worthington,  who  was  appointed  by  Speaker 
Tiffin,  chairman  of  the  committee  of  finance  (or  rather  of  tax- 
ation), having  resigned,  I  was  made  chairman,  and  recom- 
mended a  system  of  equal  taxation,  but  did  not  mature  the 
system,  only  giving  the  outlines.  A  kind  and  gracious 
Providence  continued  m}^  life,  however,  until,  1824-5,  when 
I  saw  it  established  as  the  law  of  the  land.  [A  reference  to 
the  legislative  journals  shows  that  Mr.  Cutler  was  appointed 
on  the  following  committees  :  ISTov.  24th  :  On  "  standins: 
committee  of  propositions  and  grievances,"  comsisting  of 
Paine,  Putnam,  Cutler,  Scheifl:elin,  and  Morrow  ;  chair- 
man of  the  "  standing  committee  of  claims,"  Cutler,  Mil- 
ler, and  Darlinton.  Nov.  26th.  On  a  committee  "  to  pre- 
pare a  bill  for  levying  territorial  tax  on  land,"  Worthing- 
ton, Massie,  and  Cutler ;  chairman  of  committee  "  to  es- 
tablish an  university  in  the  town  of  Athens,"  Cutler  and 
Dunlavy;  on  a  committee  "to  examine  and  report  on  an 
act  establishing  and  regulating  the  militia,"  Paine,  Cut- 
ler, and  Joncaire.  IS'ov.  30th.  Chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee "  on  the  memorial  of  Sally  Mills,"  referred  to  Cutler, 
Dunlavy,  Scheiffelin,  and  Miller.     Dec.  1st.  "  Resolution 


*  Jeremiah  Morrow,  born  at  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  October  6, 
1771,  came  to  the  North-western  Territory  in  1795;  member  of  terri- 
torial legislature  in  1801,  and  the  constitutional  convention  in  1802; 
member  of  Congress  from  Ohio  1803  to  1813;  United  States  Senator, 
1813  to  1819;  governor  from  1822  to  1826.  Afterward  state  senator  and 
canal  commissioner.     He  died  in  Warren  county,  Ohio,  March  22,  1852. 


Life  of  E'phraim  Cutler.  hi 

granting  relief  to  people  on  university  lands,"  committed 
to  Cutler  and  Dunlavv.  December  2d.  Chairman  of  com- 
mittee  "  to  amend  an  act  to  encouraa:e  the  killins:  of 
wolves,"  Cutler  and  Schieffelin.  Dec.  i^th.  Chairman  of 
committee  "  to  amend  an  act  establishing  courts  for  the 
trial  of  small  causes,"  Cutler  and  Kimberly.  Dec. 
11th.  So  much  of  the  petition  of  citizens  of  Hamilton 
county  as  relates  to  the  extension  of  magistrates'  juris- 
diction is  referred  "  to  the  committee  appointed  to  pre- 
pare and  bring  in  a  bill  to  amend  an  act  establishing 
courts  for  the  trial  of  snuill  causes."  Dec.  9th.  "A  com- 
mittee appointed  to  prepare  and  bring  in  a  bill  to  regu- 
late township  meetings,"  Ludlow  and  Cutler.  Jan.  19, 
1802.  "  Memorial  of  Dudley  Woodbridge "  referred  to 
Cutler  and  Putnam.] 

Mr.  Putnam  and  I,  after  we  had  gained  a  little  assur- 
ance (and  it  took  some  time  to  effect  that  with  me),  ac- 
quired sutHcient  influence  to  lead  in  the  principal  mat- 
ters of  action  in  the  house,  and  were  able  to  secure  a 
sniall  majority  in  all  cases  of  importance.  Mr.  Put- 
nam had  no  reason  to  be  abashed,  he  soon  distinguished 
himself  as  an  able  debater.  He  brouo;ht  forward  several 
laws  of  a  general  nature,  which  passed,  and  some  of  them 
remain  in  substance  on  our  statute  book.  In  debate  he 
had  no  equal  in  the  house.  Messrs.  Burnet  and  Sibley 
were  present  during  an  interesting  speech  which  he  made, 
and  reported  to  Governor  St.  Clair  that  Putnam  would 
make  one  of  the  ablest  politicians  in  the  territory. 

I  have  always  regarded  the  circumstances  in  which  I 
was  at  that  time  placed,  the  associations  I  then  formed, 
and  the  useful  information  I  was  enabled  to  treasure  up, 
as  having  had  an  important  influence  in  shaping  my  future 
destiny  in  politics.  The  legislature  adjourned  January  23, 
1802,  to  meet  on  the  fourth  Monday  of  November,  1802, 
at  Cincinnati.  But  the  territorial  legislature  was  never 
again  convened. 

After  the  close  of  the  session,  I  visited  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington to  see  my  honored  father,  then  a  member  of  Con- 
gress from  Massachusetts,  and  was  introduced  by  him  and 


58  Life  of  Ephraim,  Cutler. 

Judge  Wills,  and  by  oiir  delegate,  Mr.  Fearing,  to  a  num- 
ber of  the  most  prominent  members  of  both  the  political 
parties  in  Congress,  among  whom  were  Mr.  Griswold,  of 
Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  in  the  house; 
Senator  Ross,  from  Pennsylvania,  and  Senator  Morris, 
from  ]S^ew  York,  who  each  made  a  great  speech  on  the 
repeal  of  the  Judiciar}^  Act,  then  an  exciting  subject. 

Governor  Worthington*  was  also  in  Washington,  using 
his  influence  to  procure  an  act  of  Congress  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  us  into  a  state  government.  It  was  the 
first  Congress  under  Jefterson's  administration.  Worth- 
ington  succeeded  in  his  object.  I  was  present  when  the 
law  passed  authorizing  the  citizens  of  the  territory  to  call 
a  convention  to  take  into  consideration  the  question 
whether  they  would  form  a  state  constitution. 

Some  letters  written  by  prominent  citizens  about  this 
time,  having  reference  to  public  atfairs,  are  here  inserted : 

\_Hon.  JR.  J.  3Ieigs,  Jr.,f  to  Judge  Cutler.'] 

Marietta,  December  8,  1801. 
My  Dear  Sir: — Yours  of   the   28th    ult.    has  been    re- 
ceived.    I  must  confess  that  I  have  no  great  apprehensions 


*  Thomas  Worthington  was  born  near  Charlestown,  Virginia,  July 
IG,  1773;  removed  to  North-west  Territory  in  1798;  member  of  the 
territorial  legislature  1799,  and  of  the  constitutional  convention  1802; 
United  States  Senator  in  1803-7,  and  in  1810-14;  governor  of  Ohio 
1814-18;  canal  commissioner  1822-27.  He  died  in  New  York  City, 
June  20,  1827. 

f  Keturn  Jonathan  Meigs,  Jr.,  eldest  son  of  Colonel  R.  J.  Meigs, 
was  born  in  Middletown,  Connecticut,  in  1765,  and  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  17S5.  lie  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  his 
native  state.  In  1788,  he  moved  to  Marietta,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  He  was  the  first  postmaster  at  Marietta, 
serving  from  May,  1794,  to  October,  1795.  He  was  prosecuting  attorney 
of  Washington  county,  under  the  territorial  government,  from  1794  to 
1798;  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  North-west  Territory  from 
1798  until  Ohio  became  a  state.  In  1804,  he  was  appointed  colonel 
and  commandant  of  Louisiana  Territory,  and  in  1805,  one  of  its  Su- 
preme Judges.  In  1807,  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the  territory  of 
Michigan.     In  1810,  he  was  elected  governor  of  Ohio  over  General 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  59. 

of  evil  by  going  into  a  state  government,  because  it  would 
be  nearly  two  3'ears  before  it  could  come  into  operation. 
The  several  stages  of  progress  to  arrive  at  it :  First.  Con- 
gress would  not,  probably,  pass  a  law  on  the  subject  till 
March.  Second.  Our  legislature  must  convene  for  affix- 
ing and  apportioning  the  members  of  a  convention  for 
the  formation  of  a  constitution,  when  the  law  is  made, 
time  oi'  convention  determined,  the  people  must  have 
some  time  to  fix  their  minds  on  characters  suitable  for  so 
important  a  business.  Third.  The  convention  meets; 
some  time  is  spent  in  its  business.  Fourth.  The  constitu- 
tion is  promulgated,  and  must  go  back  to  the  people  for 
ratification  in  some  mode  or  other;  this  done,  some  time 
must  elapse  before  the  great  elective  officers  for  which  the 
constitution  shall  provide  will  be  chosen,  and  the  day  on 
which  the  first  state  legislature  will  meet  the  present 
government  will  cease. 

I  have  therefore  supposed  that  when  all  this  is  accom- 
plished, it  will  be  two  years  ;  by  that  time  we  shall  have 
more  than  60,000  inhabitants  and  be  everyway  competent 
for  the  state  government.  I  am  by  no  means  for  precipi- 
tation on  this  subject,  but  for  the  gradual  progress,  as 
before  stated.     1  know   we  differ,  but  your  constituents 


Nathaniel  Massie,  but  was  declared  ineligible  because  he  had  not  been 
a  resident  of  the  state  for  four  years  prior  to  the  election,  as  required 
by  the  constitution.  General  Massie  did  not  claim  the  seat,  which 
was  held  by  Thomas  Kirker,  Speaker  of  the  Senate,  as  acting  governor 
until  December,  1808.  The  same  winter  Colonel  Meigs  was  elected 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  and  in  September,  1809,  was 
chosen  United  States  Senator  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  John 
Smith.  In  1810,  he  was  elected  governor  of  Ohio,  and  was  re-elected 
in  1812.  He  resigned  in  March,  1814,  to  accept  the  Postmaster  Gen- 
eralship in  President  Madison's  cabinet.  He  held  this  position  also 
through  the  administration  of  President  Monroe  until,  because  of  fail- 
ing health,  he  resigned  in  1823.  He  died  in  Marietta,  March  29,  1825. 
The  epitaph  on  his  tombstone  in  the  Mound  Cemetery  is  inscribed: 
"  To  the  honored  and  revered  memory  of 

An  ardent  patriot, 

A  practical  statesmen, 

An  enlightened  scholar, 

A  dutiful  son." 


60  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

agree  with  you  on  this   subject.     It  is  impossible  for  me 
to  approve  of  the  conduct  of  the  governor.     The  practice 
of  erecting  counties  is  an  usurpation;  the   indiscriminate 
and  too  frequent  appointments   of  justices   of  the  peace 
undigniiies  government  and  degrades  magistracy.     You 
may  depend  upon  it,  sir,  that  he  is  no  friend  to  a  militia. 
He  calls  upon  the  legistature  to  repeal  the  part  of  militia 
law  which  relates  to  the  general  officers.     I  hope  the  leg- 
islature will  not.     It  is  true  the  law  should  have  contained 
these  words :  "As  soon  as  Congress,  or  the  executive  of 
the  United,  shall  make  the  appointments,  there  shall  be 
major-generals,  brevet  general,  etc."     But  Mr.  Adams  did 
not  decline  the  appointments  on  account  of  our  law  ;  the 
governor  was  so  anxious  as  to  send  on  two  similar  recom- 
mendations (at  different  times)  of  his  own  devoted  friends; 
Governor  Harrison  made  another.     The  governor  argues 
that  a   sufficient    time   has   elapsed   to   know  we  can  do 
without  general  officers;  and  I  say  for  the  same  sufficiency 
of  time  we   find,  we  may   do  without   privates,  for,  till 
lately,  we  have  had  none,  notwithstanding  the  law  passed 
some  years  ago ;  and  it  is  not  more  than  six  weeks  since 
the  militia  of  Ross  have  been  organized ;  therefore,  his 
reasoning  is  fallacious,  and,  what  is  worse,  founded  on  his 
own  executive  delinquency ;  for  we  have  had  no  time  to 
experience  whether  generals   be  necessary  or   not,  there 
havino;  been  no  militia  for  want  of  officers  commissioned. 
The  legislature  has  decided  (bj^  the  law)  by  inference  that 
general   officers  were  necessary — if  necessary  then,  more 
so  now  ;  and  the  necessity  will  increase  in   proportion  to 
the  population.     We  know  that  other  militias  have  gen- 
eral officers,  and  the  people   at  large  know  it,  and   will 
think  less  of  ours  if  we  have  them  not. 

To  repeal  the  law  will  be  suftbcating  the  germ  of  mili- 
tary ambition  in  the  young  officers,  as  they  must  remain 
stationary,  and  the  prospect  of  promotion  is  done  away, 
and  changes  are  necessary  to  stimulate  exertion.  (I  am 
convinced  of  the  governor's  private  reasons.)  The  law  is 
defective  in  not  providing  that  the  officers  of  cavalry  and 
artillery  should  be  members  of  the  battalion  courts  of  in- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  61 

quiry  when  they  are  ordered  out  as  attached  to  a  regi- 
ment or  battalion  on  the  respective  muster  days;  for  their 
delinquents  escape — difficulty  occurred  at  a  court  of  in- 
quiry, and  the  cavalry  and  artillery  officers  were  not  al- 
lowed to  sit.  A  very  short  law  will  remedy  this  defect ; 
and  hope  your  attention  to  it. 

Taxation  is  a  difficult  business  ;  to  tax  cultivated  lands 
in  a  new  country  is  to  tax  industry,  particularly  the  indus- 
try of  clearing.  There  ought  to  be  a  time  given  for  peo- 
ple to  redeem  lands  sold  for  taxes,  by  paying  to  the  pur- 
chaser the  purchase-money,  with  double  or  triple  interest. 

If  a  division  of  the  territory  is  to  take  place,  the  sooner 
it  is  made  the  better. 

I  am  not  a  friend  to  frequent  divorces.  In  the  Roman 
Empire,  their  frequency  loosened  the  bonds  of  society.  In 
France  it  destroyed  [the  private  felicity  of  families,  and 
corrupted  the  youth  of  both  sexes  even  to  excessive  pros- 
titution. 

Mrs. 's  case  is  peculiarly  hard,  and,  as  she  claims 

only  a  partial  divorce,  I  hope  she  may  succeed. 

I  had  feared  a  turbulent  session,  but  hope  for  modera- 
tion in  all  things.     My  compliments  to  your  colleagues. 

I  am,  sir. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

E.  J.  Meigs,  Jr. 

*  [Hon.  Paul  Fearing  to  Judge  Cutler.'] 

City  of  Washington,  January  18,  1802, 
'■'■Dear  Sir : — Your  Chillicothe  agents  have  arrived,  and 
I  wish  very  much  that  the  other  gentlemen  that  you  men- 

*  Paul  Fearing,  Esq.,  was  born  February  28,  176'2,  in  Warehani,  Mass., 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1785;  studied  law  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  Connecticut,  1787.  He  arrived  at  Marietta,  June 
16,  1788,  and  was  the  first  attorney  admitted  to  practice  in  the  North- 
west Territory  by  the  first  court  held  September  2,  1788.  In  1800  he 
was  a  member  of  the  territorial  legislature,  and  in  1801-2  was  dele- 
gate in  Congress.  In  1810  he  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas.  His  ability,  benevolence,  frank  and  genial  manners, 
made  hmi  a  general  favorite.     He  died  August  21 ,  1822. 


62  Life  of  Ephraim.   Cutler. 

tioned  were  here  also,  for  I  really  fear  that  those  who  are 
here  will  make  the  Democrats  think  that  the  object  is  a 
fatal  stab  to  Democracy  in  the  territory,  and  denying  it 
will  be  but  a  confirmation  ;  bnt  if  we  had  some  one  here 
in  their  politics,  he  could  do  these  ideas  all  away.  The 
fate  of  our  judiciary  is  not  yet  determined,  but  we  are 
left  without  hope. 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  in  the  Ohio  Gazette  (a  paper  which 
Backus  patronizes),  it  is  asserted  that  you  make  as  good 
a  member  as  the  county  was  able  to  send,  or,  rather,  i  am 
glad  if  the  saying  there  be  true. 

"  Do  you  think  it  would  be  agreeable  to  the  members  of 
your  assembly  to  have  two  territorial  governments,  and 
to  remain  in  the  first  grade  ?  A  number  of  the  members 
(of  Congress)  have  spoken  to  me  on  that  subject,  and  ap- 
pear to  wish  it.  Those  wlio  own  lands  there  will  be  in- 
terested in  such  an  arrangement,  as  it  will  in  some  meas- 
ure save  a  tax  on  their  lands. 

"  Since  writing  the  above,  the  resolution  has  passed  the 
senate  to  repeal  the  judiciary  act  of  last  session.  I  also 
find  that  the  agents  from  Chillicothe  have  influenced  sev- 
eral Democratic  members  verj^  strongly  in  their  cause. 
Giles  for  one.  If  he  be  able  to  get  the  other  Demo's,  they 
will  be  able  to  carry  any  thing.  I  have  not  time  to  en- 
large.*' 

Mr.  Fearing  writes  to  the  same  on  February  3,  1802  : 
"  Yours  of  the  28th  of  December,  was  received  a  few  days 
ago.  AVhat  has  detained  many  of  my  letters,  I  can  not 
tell;  this  has  been  four  weeks,  or  more,  coming.  You 
wish  me  to  answer  you  at  Marietta.  I  wrote  my  last  that 
way,  wliich,  I  presume,  met  you  there.  It  has  been  im- 
possible here  to  carry  your  measures.  The  Democrats 
took  the  business  up  with  great  appearance  of  preposses- 
sion, and  would  hardly  give  a  day  before  they  would  de- 
cide. The  agents  pretended  they  never  designed  it  as  a 
a  party  question.  If  not,  why  were  the  Judges  M.  and 
S.  so  passive?  Why  should  they  not  pretend  to  justify 
the  measure,  and  not  say,  "  It  was  only  designed  to  keep 


**  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  63 

oft*  the  motion  for  a  state  government."  People  situated 
as  they  are  in  the  territory,  even  an  indifterence  would 
argue  they  could  not  justify  the  measure.  But,  say  the 
agents,  we  knew  it  never  would  be  made  a  party  question, 
even  Mr.  Bayard  spoke  against  it.  I  am  willing  they 
should  so  think.  The  friends  found  how  it  must  go,  and 
thought  it  best  to  divide,  so  that  they  should  not  particu- 
larly think  themselves  pledged  against  it,  should  it  again 
come  forward  with  the  assent  of  the  people  expressed 
either  by  convention  or  instruction.  It  may  be  thought 
by  some  that  I  could  have  kept  it  oft'  by  not  laying  the 
law  before  Congress  ;  but  they  were  prepared  with  an- 
other copy,  and  Giles  would  have  introduced  it  tlie  day 
when  I  did,  if  I  had  not.  I  thought  it  best  to  do  it  my- 
self, as,  by  the  rules,  I  should  have  been  on  the  select 
committee  in  case  it  was  referred  to  one. 

"  I  think  the  governor  will  be  removed,  every  exertion 
is  making,  or  has  been  made,  for  that  purpose  ;  but  I  have 
heard  nothing  for  a  week  past.  I  am  sorry  the  governor 
has  not  been  a  little  more  cautious  in  his  notes  to  Justice 
Finley.  Executive  direction  went,  in  my  opinion,  too 
far.  A  magistrate  must  have  evidence  to  bind  over,  as 
well  as  to  convict;  and  he  must  be  his  own  judge  of  the 
weight  of  the  evidence  before  him,  and  although  from  the 
information  I  have" had,  I  think  the  justice  ought  to  have 
bound  over,  yet  the  censure  of  partiality  with  which  we 
should  brand  him,  is  in  some  measure  lost  in  the  appro- 
bation we  have  to  give  to  his  firm  resistance  of  the  execu- 
tive attempt  to  dictate  what  he  ought  to  adjudge  on  evidence. 
Perhaps  the  business  might  appear  YQvy  difterent  if  1  was 
acquainted  more  particularly  with  the  whole  transaction. 

"  Is  it  known  at  Marietta,  for  what  purpose  Judge 
Meigs  has  lately  visited  this  city?  Is  it  possible  he  would 
make  so  long  a  journey  merely  to  pay  homage  to  the 
mammoth  man  ?  I  am  at  a  loss  myself.  The  judiciary 
is  lost  in  the  Senate,  and  I  fear  it  will  share  the  same  fate 
in  the  house.  When  once  the  Democratic  enthusiasts 
shall  disregard  the  constitution  of  our  country,  I  think 
we  have  reason  to  fear,»that  there  will  be  an  entire  dis- 


64  Life  of  Ei^hy^aim  Cutler.  ;■ 

solution  of  our  national  compact ;  and  the  true  repub- 
licans will  have  to  look  for  safety  in  an  adherence  to  each 
other.  But  I  fear  in  the  convulsions,  necessarily  attend- 
ing revolutions,  that  a  greater  than  a  Republican  would 
appear.  Some  favorite  Democrat  who  has  sacrificed  the 
faith,  the  honor,  and  the  interests  of  his  country  to  his 
own  popularity  will  rise  up  (Bonaparte  like)  and  proclaim 
equality  to  all  the  citizens  of  his  country  with  the  fra- 
ternal extension  thereof  to  his  neighbors.  Then  will  the 
free  citizen  of  the  republic  of  his  own  choice,  be  at  lib- 
erty to  "annul  the  laws  and  be  duly  taxed  in  such  manner 
as  this  great  favorite  of  the  people  shall  dictate. 

"  We  have  almost  arrived  at  that  happy  stand  now.  We 
have  decided  majorities  who  will  give  their  silent  vote  to 
carry  into  effect  every  hint  of  their  master ;  and  all  that 
is  wanting  to  make  us  free  and  happy  as  their  most  ar- 
dent wishes  could  express  is  to  have  the  barrier  of  the 
constitution  broken  down,  which  so  much  controls  the 
liberties  of  our  good  citizens,  whom  we  have  put  as  our 
servants  to  manage  our  public  concerns.  And  why  should 
those  faithful  public  servants  be  suspected  ?  Let  the  old 
compact  then  be  given  up,  as  a  subject  fit  only  for  book- 
worms, and  let  the  statesman  and  judge  attend  to  such  new 
theories  as  are  more  consonant  to  our  liberties  and  (as  Mr. 
Mason  from  V.  said)  have  the  judiciary  as  it  ought  to  be, 
under  the  check  of  the  sovereign  opinion  of  the  people. 

"  I  presume  you  are  tired  of  the  subject  by  this  time, 
and  if  you  are  not,  I  can  tell  you  that  I  am  and  have  been 
for  a  long  time,  and  my  constant  prayer  to  God  is,  that  in 
His  unbounded  goodness  and  power  (for  some  superior 
power  is  necessary)  He  will  confuse  their  counsels,  and 
avert  the  evils  that  I  fear  await  us.  I  have  written  freely 
to  you  and  without  much  examination,  and  hope  you  will 
not  expose  it.     Make  my  compliments  to  Mrs,  Cutler." 

Under  date  of  February  19,  1802,  Mr.  Fearing  writes : 

"  There  has  been  a  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  expediency  of  bringing  us  into  a  state.  I  expect  they 
will  report  in  favor  of  it,  as  it  is  the  order  of  the  day  to  op- 
pose every    thing  that  looks    like   government,    and  the 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  Go 

nearer  we  approach  to  a  state  of  iiatiii-e,  the  more  perfect 
is  our  freedom.  The  House  have  been  for  three  days  in 
debate  on  the  judiciary,  and  I  expect  it  will  take  a  week 
longer.  The  Jacobins,  in  their  debates,  really  alarm  me. 
Tliey  declare  that  our  judges  have  no  right  to  adjudge  a 
law  unconstitutional,  but  if  the  legislature  pass  an  act,  it 
becomes  really  a  law,  and  that  the  people  and  judges  must 
abide  by  it.  If  that  be  the  case,  our  constitution  is  at  an 
end,  and  a  French  convention  can  do  no  more  than  an 
American  Congress." 

Dr.  Cutler  writes  from  Washington,  February  1,  1802: 

"The  law  of  your  territory  providing  for  a  dividing 
line,  so  as  to  form  another  state,  has  met  with  a  spirited  op- 
position from  Giles  and  the  whole  of  the  reigning  majority. 
Large  budgets  of  petitions  and  other  documents  have 
been  laid  by  this  Virginian  leader  before  the  House.  Mr. 
Fearing  has  acted  his  part  well,  and  has  been  supported 
generally  by  the  Federalists;  hut  the  subject  is  exceedingly 
unpopular,  as  so  many  of  the  sovereign  people  are  op- 
posed to  a  division,  and  anxious  to  make  an  independent 
state.  The  current  of  opposition  to  the  measure  was  so 
strong  as  to  render  it  impossible  to  do  any  thing  to  coun- 
teract it. 

"The  House  were  on  the  point  of  passing  a  bill  declar- 
ing the  law  unconstitutional,  but  they  were  reminded  that 
the  laws  of  your  assembly  are  as  independent  of  Congress 
as  those  of  any  state  in  the  Union.  Amendments  have 
been  made  in  the  bill,  which  has  not  yet  passed,  declaring 
the  law  to  be  opposed  to  the  principles  of  the  ordinance 
of  Congress  forming  the  government  of  the  North-western 
Territory.  Giles  has  brought  forward  a  motion  the  object 
of  which  is  to  encourage  and  urge  the  people  immediately 
to  become  an  independent  state.  It  is  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee, who  have  not  yet  reported.  There  are  two  objects 
in  view;  one,  to  get  rid  of  the  expense  of  paying  your  gov- 
ernor's salary ;  and  the  other,  to  get  two  more  democratic 
members  from  your  part  of  the  country  into  the  Senate." 

A  county  convention,  consisting  of  delegates  from  Ma- 
rietta, Gallipolis,  Belpre,  Waterford,  Athens,  and  Zaues- 
5 


■66  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

ville  (all  then  within  tlie  bounds  of  Washington  county), 
was  hehl  at  Marietta,  on  tlie  4th  of  August,  1802,  to  se- 
lect candidates  to  represent  tlie  county  in  the  convention 
to  form  a  state  constitution,  which  was  to  meet  at  Chilli- 
cothe  the  ensuing  November. 

This  county  convention  nominated  General  Rufus  Put- 
nam, Benjamin  Ives  Gilman,  Ephraim  Cutler,  and  John 
Mclntire.*  Another  ticket  was  ])repared  by  the  Jeifer- 
sonian  party,  being  those  who  were  favorable  to  assuming 
a  state  government,  with  the  names  of  Return  J.  Meigs, 
Jr.,  Griflin  Green,  William  Skinner,  and  William  Wells. 
Those  named  on  the  first  ticket  were  elected  in  September 
over  their  opponents  l)y  about  two  to  one.  William  R. 
Putnam  and  Ephraim  Cutler  were  re-elected  to  serve  two 
years  in  the  territorial  legislature,  time  of  service  to  com- 
mence January  1,  1803,  if  a  state  government  was  not 
termed. 

Previous  to  the  election,  the  question  whether  slavery 
should  be  admitted  into  the  state  was  agitated,  as  well  as 
the  policy  of  at  that  time  coming  into  a  state  govern- 
nment.f  The  election  was  conducted  with  some  feeling, 
and  considerable  excitement  existed,  occasioned  in  a  meas- 


*John  Mclntire  was  a.  man  of  good  sense  and  sound  jud<rmeiit. 
He  was  a  member  of  ihe  constitutional  convention  in  1802.  Fie,  with 
Jonathan  Zane,  owned  the  section  of  land  upon  which  the  town  of 
Zanesville  was  laid  out;  and  he  kept  the  first  tavern  in  that  place. 
Mr.  Mclnlire  was  an  enterprising,  successful  business  man,  and  be- 
came wealthy.  After  making  ample  provision  for  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ter, at  his  death,  in  1815,  he  gave,  for  the  education  of  poor  children 
in  Zanesville,  a  sum  which  yields  annually  eight  thousand  dollars  for 
that  purpose. 

f  August  8,  1802,  Je+iial  Gregory  wrote  from  Athens,  Ohio,  to  Hon. 
R.  J.  Meigs,  Jr.,  at  Marietta: 

"  We  have  hot  times  about  slavery  and  Kepublicanism.  News  is 
spreading  here  that  you  want  such  a  system  adopted.  Mr.  Cutler  told 
Major  Abbot  that  it  was  so,  and  urged  him  by  no  means  to  vote  ior 
you.  Others  from  Federal  creek  spare  no  pains  in  spreading  the  re- 
port: even  Mr.  Pugsley,  the  Baptist  preacher,  blows  it  with  as  much 
energy  as  an  Irishmsm  would  a  bagpipe.     .     .     .     I  will  spare  no  pains 

in  detecting  the  Federal  villainy;   the  party  is  weak  here,  but  d d 

saucy." 


Life  of  Ephralrn  Cidlcr.  67 

lire  by  the  siuUlen  clianu-e  (»t"  politict^  ol". Judge  Meigs,  who, 
from  being  a  deeitUnl  Federalist,  became  a  zealous  Demo- 
crat. Our  opponents  opeidy  advocated  the  admission  of 
slavery,  and  also  the  acceptance  of  the  propositions  in  the 
act  of  Congress  Avithout  qualitication.  We,  and  the 
friends  who  supported  us,  on  the  contrary,  rejected  slav- 
ery, and  thought  it  \\'()uld  he  safer  and  ^\■iser  to  wait  until 
the  population  had  become  more  numerous,  and  had  over- 
come some  of  the  ditiiculties  attending:  the  earlv  settle- 
ments,  before  burdening  themseh'es  with  a  great  addi- 
tional expense  in  sup[iorting  a  state  government.  We  be- 
lieved by  deferring  the  movement  a  few  years  we  might  be 
admitted  on  much  more  favorable  terms. 

I  had  that  autumn  a  drove  of  cattle  to  disjtose  of,  which 
took  me  to  Moortield,  on  the  south  branch  of  the  Potomac, 
and  I  did  not  get  back  until  the  last  of  October.  1  found 
Messrs.  J'utnam  and  Oilman  had  s;one  on  to  Chillicothe. 
I  met  at  Marietta  John  W.  Browne,  lie  was  an  English- 
man, and  after  being  elected  a  member  of  the  convention 
for  Hamilton  county,  came  to  Marietta  and  appeared  be- 
fore the  judges  of  the  superior  court,  then  in  session,  and 
took  the  oatli  of  allegiance,  and  thus  became  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States.  I  traveled  in  com[)any  with  him  to 
Chillicothe,  spending  but  a  single  night  at  home.  After 
leaving  my  house  at  Ames,  we  went  the  first  day  to  Logan, 
and  stopped  at  Mr.  Westonhavor's,  a  Uerman,  avIio,  with 
three  or  four  others,  had  recently  taken  up  the  old  Indian 
corn-tield  and  begun  a  settlement  at  that  place.  At  that 
time,  there  was  no  [terson  living  on  the  Hocking  river 
between  the  mouth  of  Sunday  creek  and  Westonhavor's, 
a  distance  of  more  than  twenty  miles.  When  Westonha- 
vor  came  out  to  meet  us,  Mr.  Browne,  who  was  by  profes- 
sion an  Independent  minister,  asked  him  if  he  did  not 
want  preaching  there  that  night;  and  after  supper  the 
several  families  came  in,  and  he  delivered  a  good  orthodox 
sermon.  .  .  .  The  next  day  we  wended  our  way 
through  the  wilderness,  in  a  narrow  pack-horse  .track, 
leading  by  the  Falls  of  Hocking,  then  up  Scott's  creek, 
and  on  to  Adelphi,  w^here  we  found  a  Mr.  Wills  settled, 


68  Life  of  Ephraim,  Cutler. 

who  was  able  to  give  our  horses  a  feed  of  grain.  We  then 
pursued  a  more  comfortable  path  to  Chillicothe,  where 
we  arrived  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day  of  iS'ovem- 
ber. 

After  the  convention  was  organized  by  appointing  Dr. 
Edward  Tiffin  president  and  Judge  Thomas  Scott  secre- 
tary, the  first  question  to  be  decided  was,  "  Is  it  now  ex- 
pedient to  form  a  constitution  and  state  government!" 
As  we  went  to  the  court-house,  where  the  convention 
met,  on  the  morning  after  my  arrival,  Mr.  Gilman  men- 
tioned to  me  that  General  Putnam  and  Mr.  Bazaleel  Wells 
thought  that  when  the  question  should  come  up  we  had 
better  all  vote  with  the  yeas.  I  told  him  it  would  be  in- 
consistent for  me  to  vote  thus.  Of  course,  when  the  ques- 
tion was  put,  I  said  No,  and  found  myself  "  solitary  and 
alone,"  but  was  not  dismayed,  being  certain  that  I  was 
expressing  the  will  of  niy  constituents,  as  well  as  comply- 
ing with  my  own  judgment  and  convictions  of  duty.  My 
colleagues  held  the  same  views  respecting  the  true  policy 
that  the  convention  should  have  adopted,  but  believed  that 
they  would  obtain  a  greater  influence  in  the  future  pro- 
ceedings by  taking  the  course  they  did.* 


*  Judge  Cutler  writes  to  his  father:  "You  have  no  doubt  seen  by 
the  papers  that  the  vote  for  accepting  the  law  of  Congress,  and  pro- 
ceeding immediately  to  form  a  state  government,  passed  by  a  majority 
of  thirty-two  to  one;  this  oni?,  sir,  was  simply  me;  and  I  do  think  it  a 
favorable  circumstance,  to  have  had  the  opportunity  to  place  my 
feeble  testimony  against  so  wicked  and  tyrannical  a  proceeding — 
although  I  stand  alone." 

The  Hon.  Jacob  Burnet,  in  a  letter  to  Judge  Cutler  from  Cincinnati, 
September  26,  1847,  writes:  "  I  have  often  sought  in  vain  for  the  rea- 
sons which  induced  your  colleagues  to  desert  you  on  the  important 
preliminary  question,  'Is  it  expedient  now;  to  form  a  state  constitution?' 
on  which  your  solitary  negation  stands  recorded,  as  a  proof  that  on 
that  ti'ying  occasion  you  dared  to  do  your  duty,  at  the  expense  of  your 
popularity.  They  (your  colleagues)  were  consistent  Whigs,  and  until 
that  hour  had  been  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  premature, 
then,  to  abandon  the  ordinance  and  form  a  state  government.  They 
were  also  of  opinion  that  the  conditions  imposed  by  Congress  would 
be  greatly  injurious  to  the  people,  as  has  been  the  case. 

"I  have  forced  myself  to  believe  that  they  were  not  influenced  by 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  69 

The  whole  number  of  members,  including  the  president, 
was  thirty-live.  There  was  some  management  to  obtain  a 
decided  majority  to  coincide  with  the  views  of  the  Jetfer- 
sonian  party,  whose  policy  would  have  fixed  much  of  the 
old  Virginia  constitution,  and  what  they  called  limited 
slavery,  upon  the  state. 

Judge  Byrd,  who  was  secretary  of  the  territory,  was  at 
the  commencement  of  the  session  looked  to  by  that  party 
as  the  one  to  draft  the  constitution.  He  happily  approved 
of  the  Tennessee  constitution,  which  was  the  most  recent 
one  to  which  we  had  access.  This  niet  the  entire  appro- 
bation of  those  of  us  of  whom  it  was  slanderously  said, 
that  we  wished  a  strong,  aristocratic  government.  In  all 
our  more  private  consultations,  we  expressed  an  earnest 
desire  to  give  our  labors,  in  their  results,  a  strong  demo- 
cratic tendency. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  Mr.  AVells  so  cordial  with  Gen- 
eral Putnam  and  Mr.  Gilman,  and  was  astonished  at  the 
course  of  Governor  Huntington.*  We  all  boarded  at 
Gregg's,  and  had  one  common  room,  where,  of  course, 
there  was,  or  ought  to  have  been,  perfect  freedom  in  ex- 
pressing our  thoughts.  Huntington  was,  however,  often 
absent  from  our  room. 

We  Federalists  were  desirous  of  establishing  as  perfect 
a  republican  system  as  we  were  capable  of  forming,  giving 


popular  motives,  but  by  such  as  were  entirely  satisfactory  to  them- 
selves; yet  I  must  say  that,  like  yourself,  I  saw  nothing  after  the 
meeting  of  the  convention  calculated  to  change  the  opinion  on  that 
subject  which  they  had  previously  formed  and  warmly  defended.  My 
surprise  at  the  result  of  that  vote  was  great,  and  to  the  present  day 
the  subject  never  recurs  to  my  mind  unaccompanied  with  painful 
feelings." 

*  Samuel  Huntington,  born  in  Coventry,  Connecticut,  (Jctol^er  4, 
1765;  graduated  at  Yale  College,  1785;  admitted  to  the  bar,  1793 :  re- 
moved to  Painesville,  Ohio,  18(i0;  member  of  the  convention  that 
formed  the  constitution  of  the  state  in  1802;  speaker  of  the  senate  in 
the  first  state  legislature;  judge  of  the  superior  court,  1803;  and  after- 
ward chief-justice;  governor  of  Ohio,  1808-10;  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture, 1811-12;  pay-master  in  the  War  of  1812,  with  rank  of  colonel. 
Died  .June  8,  1817. 


70  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

as  complete  individual  freedom  as  was  possible.  We 
wished  to  encourage  democracy,  by  having  town8hii)S  to 
manage  local  business;  and  to  encourage  schools  and  edu- 
cation, by  providing  that  it  should  be  imperative  on  the 
legislature  to  make  laws  for  that  purpose  ;  and  that  all 
should  enjoy  perfect  religious  freedom,  as  their  consciences 
should  dictate.  I  very  much  doubt  whether  any  of  the 
members  of  the  convention  were,  at  the  conclusion,  better, 
if  so  well,  pleased  with  the  result  of  our  labors,  as  General 
Putnam  and  Messrs.  (iilman  and  Wells. 

Party  divisions,  as  respects  Federalists  and  Democrats, 
were  not  prominent.  In  no  case  were  they  so  strong  as 
in  discussing  the  first  report  of  the  committee  appointed 
to  prepare  the  judiciary  system.  This  committee  (ap- 
pointed jS'ovember  Otli)  consisted  of  fifteen  members. 
They  were:  Byrd,  Paul,  Smith,  (Tatch,  Darlinton,  Kirker, 
Massie,  Worthington,  Carpenter,  Putnam,  Gilman,  Milli- 
gan.  Wells,  Caldwell,  and  Huntington;  of  whom  eight 
were  natives  of  Virginia.  The  judiciary,  or  third  article, 
as  prepared,  was  from  the  pen  of  kludge  Byrd,  and  was  a 
copy  of  the  Virginia  code  as  then  practiced,  and  the  lead- 
ing members  evidently  wished  to  give  it  that  cast.  It  left 
the  final  decision  of  all  cases  of  considerable  moment,  by 
appeal  from  the  lower  courts,  to  be  adjudged  by  a  general 
court  to  sit  at  the  capital  of  the  state,  and  nowhere  else — 
this  in  the  last  resort  was  to  be  the  end  of  all  lawsuits. 
Efforts  were  made  by  Mr.  AVells,  Mr.  Cilman,  and  General 
Putnam,  who  were  members  of  the  ct>mmittee,  to  amend 
the  article  by  suggesting  that  the  supreme  or  general 
court,  as  it  was  termed,  should  sit  in  districts,  and  a  dis- 
trict system  was  [)i-()[»osed.  Several  days  were  spent  in  the 
discussion  without  effecting  any  material  change. 

On  motion  to  amend  there  were  usually  ten  yeas  and 
twenty-four  nays;  and  alwa^'s  the  same  ])ersons;  there 
was,  in  fact,  a  strong  vote  in  favor  of  the  article  as  re- 
ported, and  it  passed  on  until  the  third  reading.  At  this 
stage,  Wells  and  Gilman  urged  me  to  oppose  the  whole 
article.  I  spent  a  few  minutes  in  raising  objections,  and 
stated  that  the  people  would  look  for  a  system   as   con- 


Life  of  Ephrahn  Cutler.  71 

venient  and  inexpensive  as  the  circumstances  of  the 
country  would  permit.  I  was  interrupted  by  Judge  Byrd, 
who  sneeringly  observed,  that  "  the  gentleman  from 
Washington  was  not  pleased  with  the  article;  and  he 
should  be  glad  to  hear  what  would  please  him."  This 
raised  my  Yankee  feeling.  I  bowed  and  said  :  "  I  would 
try  to  gratify  him.  I  thought  it  the  duty  of  the  conven- 
tion, and  a  wise  policy,  to  provide  a  mode  of  administer- 
ing justice  that  would  bring  it  as  near  every  man's  door 
as  was  practicable ;  to  the  poor  man  equally  with  the  rich. 
By  the  system  proposed,  a  man,  living  at  a  distance  from 
the  court  where  the  linal  decision  was  made,  might  be  de- 
prived of  justice  because  he  could  not  command  the  means 
to  meet  his  more  wealthy  antagonist ;  it  was  taking  it  as 
far  as  possible."  I  then  gave  in  detail  substantially  the 
article  as  it  stands  in  the  constitution.  On  my  sitting 
down  Mr.  Byrd  called  hastily  for  the  question,  which 
President  Tiffin  as  hastily  put.  There  was  no  call  for 
ayes  and  noes.  A  few  voices  were  raised  among  the  ayes, 
a  number  said  nothing,  and  we,  as  nsual,  in  a  peaceful, 
mild  way  said  no  ;  and  the  president  said  '■  the  ayes 
have  it." 

The  rules  of  the  convention  provided  that  each  article 
should  be  treated  in  its  passage  as  a  separate  bill  is  in 
legislative  proceedings,  and  have  three  several  readings 
before  itstinal  passage;  when  it  was  subject  to  be  amended 
by  way  of  rider.  Judge  Byrd  then  rose  and  proposed  a 
day  for  the  last  reading,  and  final  passage,  which  was 
adopted ;  and  we,  Federalists,  gave  up  the  idea  of  any  fur- 
ther attempt  to  change  it. 

But  the  leaven  was  working.  On  reflection,  a  number 
of  the  members  of  the  convention  changed  their  views, 
and  the  evening  before  the  day  set  for  the  last  reading,  of 
the  article,  as  I  was  coming  out  of  the  court-house  after 
the  convention  had  adjourned  for  the  day.  Judge  Dunlavy 
took  me  aside  and  asked  me  to  come  to  his  quarters  after 
supper,  and  that  I  would  hear  something  important  re- 
specting the  judiciary  article.  It  was  decided  at  supper 
that  Mr.  Oilman  and  I  should  immediately  attend  to  this 


72  JJfc  of  Ep^hraim   Cutler. 

call.  Judge  Dniilavy  and  seven  others  were  boarding  at 
Lamb's,  and  bad  a  spacious  common  room.  As  soon  as 
Mr.  Gilman  and  I  entered,  the  judge  locked  the  door  : 
and  Mr.  Wilson,  an  aged  man,  a  member  from  Hamilton, 
addressed  me  as  follows :  "  Mr.  Cutler,  were  you  in  earn- 
est when  you  gave  in  detail  a  judiciary  article  which  you 
said  would  please  you  ? "  Oh  !  yes,  sir.  "  Well,"  said  he, 
'*  will  the  ten  who  generally  vote  with  you  support  it  if 
it  is  again  brought  before  the  convention  ? "  Please  to 
ask  Mr.  Gilman.  Mr.  Gilman  answered,  "  I  think  they 
would."  "  Well,  then,  sir,  here  are  eight  of  us  who  pledge 
ourselves  to  support  your  plan,  if  you  and  Judge  Dunlavy 
will  put  it  in  form  so  that  it  may  be  introduced,  by  way 
of  rider,  to-morrow  morning,  on  the  last  reading  of  the 
article."  Judge  Dunlavy  then  said,  "  We  have  no  time  to 
spare.  Where  can  we  best  commence  our  labor  ? "  I 
answered,  I  think  at  Mr.  John  Reily's  *  chamber.  Mr. 
Reily  and  Mr.  Goforth  boarded  together  a  little  out  of 
town.  We  immediately  repaired  thither ;  and  as  we 
agreed  upon  a  section,  Mr.  lieily  copied  section  one,  Mr. 
Gilman  section  two,  and  so  on   alternatelv ;  and  a  little 


*  John  Reily,  born  in  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  April  10,  1763; 
removed  when  young  with  his  parents  to  Htanton,  Virginia;  enlisted  in 
the  Revolutionary  army  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  served  at 
the  South,  under  General  Greene,  in  the  battles  of  Guilford  Courtr 
house,  Camden,  Ninety-six,  and  the  brilliant  action  at  Eutaw  Springs, 
where  he  was  distinguished  for  bravery  and  good  conduct.  After  the 
war  he  went  to  Kentucky,  and  in  1789,  to  the  North-west  Territory, 
where  he  taught  school  in  Hamilton  county,  and  shared  the  dangers 
and  struggles  of  the  Indian  war.  In  1799,  he  was  appointed  clerk  of 
the  first  Territorial  Legislature,  and  served  in  that  capacity  while  that 
form  of  government  continued;  and  in  1S02,  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention that  formed  the  first  constitution  of  Ohio.  He  made  his  home 
in  Hamilton,  Butler  county,  where  he  served  as  clerk  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  for  thirty-seven  years;  ami  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Ohio  thirty-nine  years;  and  was  twenty-eight  years  postmaster  at  Ham- 
ilton. He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  first  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Miami  University  in  I8i)9,  and  was  an  efficient  member  until  he  re- 
signed in  1840  on  account  of  advanced  age.  In  these  and  other  offices 
he  held  he  was  remarkable  for  system,  accuracy,  honesty,  and  [lunctu- 
alitv.      He  died 'June  S,  1850.  aged  87  vears. 


Life  of  Ephraim.  Cutler.  73 

after  twelve  o'clock  we  had  completed  our  task.  Judge 
Dunlavy  took  the  seven  sections  copied  by  Mr.  Rcily ;  and 
I  the  seven  by  Mr.  Gilman. 

The  next  morning,  as  soon  as  the  convention  began  tlie. 
business  of  the  day,  Judge  Byrd  called  for  the  reading 
and  final  passage  of  the  judiciary  article.  Then  Judge 
Dunlavy  moved  to  strike  out  the  first  section,  and  stated 
that  he  held  in  his  hand  a  substitute,  which  he  read. 
Byrd  appeared  struck  with  astonishment,  and  attempted 
to  lash  Dunlavy  for  inconsistency ;  he  said  that  Dunlavy 
had  voted  against  every  amendment  proposed  at  the 
former  readings,  etc.  As  preconcerted,  no  reply  was 
made,  and  I  seconded  the  motion  of  Dunlavy,  and  it  was 
decided  in  the  afiirmative.  I  then  introduced  section 
second,  and  on  the  like  motion,  that  section  was  adopted 
by  an  increased  majority,  Mr.  Smith,  one  of  the  ablest 
men  they  had,  coming  over  to  us.  At  the  close,  and  final 
passage,  the  ayes  were  twenty-four,  and  noes  ten.  Thus, 
within  three  hours  after  the  convention  met  that  morn- 
ing, it  became  the  third  article  of  the  constitution  without 
changing  a  word.* 

This  took  place  late  in  the  session,  but  the  unexpected 
result  completely  revolutionized  our  body.  General  Put- 
nam and  Messrs.  Gilman  and  Wells,  after  this,  were 
listened  to  with  respectful  attention  by  those  who  had  be- 
fore manifested  something  bordering  upon  contempt.     In 


*  In  a  letter  written  to  Ephraim  Cutler,  and  dated  "  Hamilton,  April 
19,1842,"  Mr.  John  Reily  says:  "With  respect  to  the  convention 
which  framed  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  you  will  recollect 
that  we  had  more  difficulty  and  disputation  on  the  third  article  than 
on  any  other  part.  That  article,  with  others,  had  been  reported  at  an 
early  day  of  the  session  ;  but  not  meeting  with  the  views  of  a  majority 
of  the  members,  it  had  been  referred  to  special  committees,  who  had 
made  modifications  and  reported.  The  modifications,  however,  not 
being  satisfactory,  could  not  be  adopted.  This  caused  the  meeting  of 
the  few  members  of  whom  you  have  made  mention.  We  met,  con- 
sulted on  the  subject,  and  prepared  a  draft,  which  was  presented  and 
finally  adopted  either  as  presented  or  with  very  slight  modifications. 
This,  as  well  as  I  can  recollect,  was  the  manner  in  which  the  third 
article  of  the  constitution  was  finally  framed  and  adopted." 


74  Life  of  Ephralm   Cutler. 

one  instance,  u  member  liad  denounced  General  Putnam 
as  an  enemy  to  his  country ! 

The  eighth  article,  or  bill  of  rights,  as  it  is  called,  was 
committed,  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  session,  to  Goforth, 
Dunlavy,  Bro\yne,  Baldwin,  Grubb,  AV^oods,  Updegrafi', 
Cutler,  and  Donalson.  A  hasty  report  was  made  upon  it, 
which  was  afterward  withdrawn ;  and  tlie  committee 
was  directed  to  consider  it  tlieir  duty  to  report  it  as  the 
eighth  article. 

We  met  at  President  Tithn's  by  special  invitation. 
Our  chairman,  Mr.  Browne,  ])roduced  and  read  the  tirst 
section,  which  was  agreed  to  without  objection.  An  ex- 
citing subject  was,  of  course,  immediately  brought  before 
this  committee — the  subject  of  admitting  or  excluding 
slavery.  Mr.  Browne  proposed  a  section,  which  deiined  the 
subject  thus:  "No  ])ers()n  shall  be  held  in  slaver}^,  if  a 
male,  after  be  is  tliirtv-tivi'  years  of  age:  or  a  female,  after 
twenty-iive  years  of  age.""  The  handwriting,  I  had  no 
doubt,  was  Mr.  Jefferson's.  1  lia<l  a  t'onversation  with 
Governor  AVorthing-ton  at  WashiuiJ-ton  V\t\\  at  the  time 
that  Congress  ])assed  the  law  authorizing  the  convention; 
and  he  informed  me  that  he  (.Jefferson)  had  expressed  to 
him  that  such,  or  a  similar  article,  might  be  introduced 
into  the  convention;  and  that  he  hoped  there  would  not 
be  any  effort  made  for  any  thing  farther  for  the  exclusion 
of  slaver}'  from  the  state,  as  it  would  operate  against  the 
interests  of  those  who  wished  to  emiijcrate  from  the  slave 
states  to  Ohio. 

I  observed  to  the  committee  that  those  who  had  elected 
me  to  represent  them  there  were  very  desirous  to  have 
this  matter  clearly  understood,  and  I  must  move  to  have 
the  section  laid  on  the  table  until  our  next  meeting;  and 
to  avoid  any  warmth  of  feeling,  I  hoped  that  each  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  would  prepare  a  section  which 
should  express  his  views  fully  on  this  important  subject. 

The  committee  met  the  next  morning,  and  I  was  called 
upon  for  what  I  had  proposed  the  last  meeting.  I  then 
read   to  them   the   second  section,  as  it  now  stands  in  the 


-  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  75 

constitution.*  Mr.  l>ro\vne  observed  that  what  he  had  in- 
troduced was  tlionght  by  the  greatest  men  in  tlie  Nation 
to  be,  if  established  in  our  constitution,  obtaining  a  great 
step  toward  a  general  emancipation  of  slavery,  and  was 
greatly  to  be  preferred  to  what  I  had  offered. f 


*Article  VIII,  Section  2.  "There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  in- 
voluntary servitude  in  this  state,  otherwise  than  for  the  punishment 
of  crimes,  whereof  the  partj^  shall  have  been  duly  convicted;  nor 
shall  any  male  person,  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  or  fe- 
male person,  arrived  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  be  held  to  serve 
any  person  as  a  servant,  under  pretense  of  indenture,  or  otherwise, 
unless  such  person  shall  enter  into  such  indenture  while  in  a  state  of 
perfect  freedom,  and  on  condition  of  a  bona  fide  consideration,  re- 
ceived, or  to  be  received,  for  their  service,  except  as  before  excepted. 
Nor  shall  any  indenture  of  any  negro  or  mulatto,  hereafter  made  and 
executed  out  of  the  state,  or  if  made  in  the  state,  where  the  term  of 
service  exceeds  one  year,  be  of  the  least  validity,  except  those  given 
in  the  case  of  apprenticeships." 

f  In  a  letter  to  W.  P.  Cutler,  dated  "Cincinnati,  January  5,  1854," 
the  Hon.  A.  H.  Lewis,  member  of  the  Ohio  Senate,  1846-7,  writes: 
"  In  answer  to  your  note  of  the  31st  inst.,  I  state  that  in  the  winter  of 
1846-7,  as  I  think,  1  had  several  conversations  with  the  late  Governor 
Jeremiah  Morrow,  who  was  then  at  Columbus.  These  rflat^d  in  a 
considerable  degree  to  the  early  history  of  Ohio,  the  convention  that 
formed  the  state  constitution  of  1802,  and  the  character  of  many  of 
the  leading  men  of  the  period.  I  had  then  just  read  very  attentively 
the  journals  of  that  convention,  and  being  interested  in  the  subject, 
sought  to  elicit  from  him  such  reminiscences  as  he  had  in  relation  to 
those  points.  In  one  of  these  he  stated  that  when  he  went  to  Wash- 
ington as  a  member  of  Congress,  in  1803,  he  visited  Mr.  Jefferson; 
that  their  conversation  turned  upon  the  then  new  constitution  of 
Ohio;  that  Mr.  Jefferson  commended  it  highly  in  its  main  features^ 
but  thought  that  the  convention  had  misjudged  in  some  particulars. 
One  of  these  was  in  the  structure  of  the  judiciary,  which  Mr.  J. 
thought  was  too  restricted  by  the  constitution  for  the  future  wants  of 
the  state,  using,  in  this  connection,  the  expression  'they  had  legislated 
too  much.'  Another  was  in  the  exclusion  of  slavery.  Mr.  Jefferson 
thought  'it  would  have  been  more  judicious  to  have  admitted  slavery 
for  a  limited  period,'  'an  opinion,'  added  Governor  Morrow,  'in  which 
1  did  not  concur.'  This  statement  of  the  conversation  with  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson was  much  more  full  and  minute,  but,  as  I  have  not  by  me  the 
memoranda  I  made  at  the  time,  1  can  give  only  the  substance.  This, 
I  am  sure,  is  correct. 

"  I   do  not  recollect  that  he  told  me  the  fact  mentioned  by  you  re- 


76  *       Life  of  Ephralm,   Cutler. 

I  then,  at  some  length,  urged  the  adoption  of  what  I 
had  prepared,  and  dwelt  with  energy  on  the  fact  that  the 
Ordinance  of  1787  was  strictly  a  matter  of  compact,  and 
th^,t  we  were  bound  either  to  pass  it  (the  section  excluding 
slavery)  or  leave  it,  which  I  contended  would  be  the  law, 
if  not  so  defined  by  our  own  action.  Mr.  Baldwin,  the 
only  practicing  lawyer  on  the  committee,  said  that  he 
agreed  with  me  that  the  ordinance  was,  in  its  legal  aspect, 
a  compact;  and,  although  many  of  his  constituents  would 
prefer  to  have  slavery  continue  in  a  modiiied  form,  he 
would  vote  in  favor  of  the  section  as  I  had  reported  it. 
Mr.  Browne,  who  was  chairman  of  the  committee,  then 
called  the  ayes  and  nays,  and  his  report  was  negatived,  and 
mine  adopted,  the  ayes  being  Baldwin,  Dunlavy,  Cutler, 
Goforth,  and  Updegraif ;  nays,  Browne,  Donalson,  Grubb, 
and  Woods.  Several  eflbrts  were  made  to  weaken  or  ob- 
scure the  sense  of  the  section  on  its  passage,  but  the  Jef- 
fersonian  version  met  with  fewer  friends  than  I  expected. 

On  one  occasion,  when  it  was  before  the  committee  of 
the  whole  convention,  a  material  change  was  introduced. 
I  was  unwell,  and  did  not  attend  that  dav.  General  Put- 
nam,  when  he  came  into  our  chamber  after  this  occur- 
rence, exclaimed,  in  an  earnestmanner,  "  Cutler,  you  must 
get  well,  be  in  3'our  place,  or  you  will  lose  your  favorite 
measure."  Mr.  Oilman  said  he  "  would  rather  lose  all  we 
had  gained  than  lose  that." 

I  went  to  the  convention  and  moved  to  strike  out  the 
obnoxious  matter,  and  made  my  objections  as  forcible  as  I 
was  able.  Mr.  Mclntire  was  absent  that  day,  so  there 
would  be  a  tie,  unless  we  could  bring  over  one  more.  Mr. 
Milligan  had,  in  the  territorial  legislature,  spoken  against 
slavery,  but  in  tlie  convention  liad  voted  with  the  Virginia 


spectiiig   the  section   believed   to   have   been  drawn  by  Jeftei'son's  own 
hand,  but  am  inclined  to  think  1  was  informed  of  it  by  yourself. 

"There  is  no  impropriety,  I  think,  in  my  repeating  these  statements. 
Governor  Morrow  understood  the  iiupiiries  vvliich  1  made  of  him  as 
being,  if  I  may  so  say,  directed  to  'the  trutVi  of  history,'  and  that  I 
should  use  thi<  information  if  1  saw  proper.  If  you  think  so,  you 
have  the  same  liberty. " 


Life,  of  Ephroiti).   Cutler.  77 

party.  In  the  course  of  my  remarks,  I  happened  to 
catch  his  eye,  and  the  very  language  he  had  used  in  de- 
hating  the  question  occurred  to  me.  I  put  it  home  to  him, 
and  when  the  vote  was  called  Mr.  Millij^an  chans^ed  his 
vote,  and  we  succeeded" in  placing  the  section  in  its  orig- 
inal form.  It  cost  me  every  eftbrt  I  was  capahle  of  mak- 
ing, and  it  passed  hy  a  majority  of  one  vote  only.  Thus 
an  overruling  Providence,  by  His  wisdom,  makes  use  of 
the  weak  often  to  defeat  the  .purposes  of  the  wise  and 
great  of  this  world ;  and  to  His  name  be  the  glory  and 
praise. 

The  committee  appeared  to  look  to  me  after  these  oc- 
currences to  fill  up  the  balance  of  the  eighth  article  ;  *  and 
I  prepared  and  introduced  all  that  part  which  relates  to 
slavery,  religion,  and  schools  or  education.!  Although 
that  which  relates  to  schools  was  mandatory  on  the  future 
legislatures,  nothing  was  done  by  any  legislature  until  I 
became  a  member  in  1819-20,  nor  any  thing  effecting 
much  good  until  the  session  of  1824-5,  which  was  the  last 
session  I  ever  served  the  state  in  a  legislative  capacity. 

That  part  of  the  eighth  article  which  relates  to  proceed- 
ings at  law,  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Baldwin. 


*  Article  VIII,  sec.  3.  "  That  all  men  have  a  natural  and  indefeasi- 
ble right  to  worship  Almighty  God,  according  to  the  dictates  of  con- 
science; that  no  human  authority  can  in  any  case  whatever,  control 
or  interfere  with  the  rights  of  conscience;  that  no  man  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  attend,  erect,  or  supj^ort  any  place  of  worship,  or  to  main- 
tain any  ministry  against  his  consent,  and  that  no  preference  shall 
ever  be  given,  by  law,  to  any  religious  society  or  mode  of  worship,  and 
no  religious  test  shall  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  of 
trust  or  profit.  But  religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  essen- 
tially necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
schools  and  the  means  of  instruction  shall  forever  be  encouraged  by 
legislative  provision,  not  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  conscience." 

f  In  a  letter  written  to  Ephraim  Cutler  by  Mr.  Israel  Donalson,  a 
member  of  the  convention,  dated  at  "  Manchester,  20th  December,  1841," 
is  the  following  P.  S.:  "At  the  special  request  of  our  friend  (Rev.  Mr. 
Burgess),  I  state  a  perfect  recollection  of  the  eighth  article  of  our  con- 
stitution, which  at  the  time  met  my  approbation,  and  which  you  had 
the  honor  of  introducing.     Israel  Donalson." 


78  Life  of  Ephraim   Cvthr. 

Before  the  second  article  of  tlie  constitution,  which  de- 
fines the  power  of  the  executive,  came  to  its  final  passage, 
Governor  Morrow  made  an  effort  to  introduce  the  veto 
power,  similar  to  that  which  is  in  the  constitution  of 
Pennsylvania.  This  seemed  to  please  the  radical  Demo- 
crats, and  I  think  laid  the  foundation  of  his  future  popu- 
larity. Strange  as  this  may  appear,  it  is  not  uncommon 
with  that  party  to  support  with  the  greatest  zeal  very 
strong,  aristocratic  doctrines.  If  I  remember  right,  Mr. 
Gilman  and  Mr.  Wells  opposed  this  innovation.  I  think 
it  came  near  being  carried. 

There  was  also  considerable  debate,  when  the  seventh 
article  was  introduced,  on  the  third  section,  which  relates 
to  tlie  limitation  of  counties.  At  one  time  the  minimum 
was  fixed  by  vote  at  567  square  miles,  but  Governor  Hunt- 
ington brought  forward  the  plea,  that  the  townships 
in  New  Connecticut  were  all  five  miles  square,  and  six- 
teen of  them  would  make  a  convenient  size  for  counties 
in  that  part  of  the  state,  and  moved  to  strike  out  567 
and  insert  400.  This  was  agreeable  to  those  who  had 
county-seats  in  contemplation,  and  was  adopted.  But 
public  sentiment  was  then  in  favor  of  counties  of  a  larger 
size. 

A  committee  of  nine  members,  one  from  each  county 
represented  in  the  convention,  was  chosen  to  take  into 
consideration  the  propositions  made  by  Congress  to  the 
convention  for  their  acce|ttance  or  rejection.  The  report 
of  this  select  committee  was  disagreed  to  by  the  committee 
of  the  whole  convention,  and  it  was  re-committed  to  Put- 
nam, Smith,  Huntington,  Massie,  and  Wells.  During  the 
discussions  upon  the  question  whether  the  propositions 
made  to  us  by  Congress  should  be  accepted.  General  Put-: 
nam  made  the  great  speech  of  the  session. 

He  claimed  that  we,  by  acting  under  the  law  for  then 
assuming  a  state  government,  had  shown  a  submissive 
epirit.  He  forcibly  and  clearly  pointed  out  that  surrend- 
ering the  undoubted  right  to  tax  lands  sold  by  Congress 
as  soon  as  entered,  without  having  some  compensation, 
was  placing  a  very  heavy  b'U'den  on  the  present  inhabit- 


Life  of  Up  It  rah  II   Cafler.  79 

ants,  who,  at  great  sai-ritit-e,  had  already  brought  these 
hinds  into  market.  His  facts  were  well  stated,  and  Ins 
reasoning  was  logical,  and  had  its  effect. 

A  majority  of  the  mendjers,  as  could  he  well  understood 
by  casual  remarks  and  conversations,  had  determined  to 
swallow  down  the  whole  of  the  propositions  without  any 
moditication.  A  lively  interest  was  exhil)ited  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  court-house  was  (.-rowded,  and  when  the  yeas 
and  nays  were  called  and  rt^'snlted,  yeas,  Itl,  and  nays,  17, 
a  considerable  evidence  of  popular  apjilause  was  audibly 
expressed.  After  the  vote  was  taken,  those  members  who 
had  voted  in  favor,  signitied  their  entire  satisfaction  in  the 
result.  The  convention  then  proceeded  to  make  proposi- 
tions on  their  part,  which  were  accepted  by  Congress. 

I  made  an  etlort,  without  success,  to  have  the  constitu- 
tion submitted  for  acceptance  to  a  vote  of  the  ]»eople.  I 
said  to  the  convention  that  ''  I  deemed  it  of  primary  im- 
portance that  the  people  of  this  territory  should  have  some 
opportunity  of  declaring  their  assent  to  or  dissent  from 
this  instrument  before  it  became  binding  on  them,  for  I 
was  clear  that,  though  the  constitution  should  be  the  most 
perfect — formed  with  wisdom  superior  to  any  thing  of  the 
kind  that  had  yet  appeared — many  would  be  dissatisfied 
with  it.  And  the  dissatisfaction  would  be  increased  by 
the  fact  that  the  authority  under  which  we  acted  had  not, 
unless  we  called  in  the  aid  of  the  doctrine  of  implication, 
been  derived  from  the  people  wlio  were  to  receive  the  bene- 
fits, or  abide  the  evils  we  were  preparing  for  them.  Would 
there  not  be  room  for  much  distrust  and  jealousy  if  we  forced 
upon  our  constituents  a  government  which  never  came  be- 
fore them  for  their  a[»proval  ?  By  adopting  the  resolution 
to  submit  the  constitution  to  a  vote  of  the  people  the 
mouths  of  the  clamorous  would  be  stopped,  and  the  minds 
of  the  judicious  satistied.  To  the  objections  that  it  would 
occasion  delay,  and  additional  expense,  I  urged  that  the  time 
for  the  coming  into  operation  of  the  state  government 
would  not  be  greatly  procrastinated  ;  two  months  would 
probably  be  found  sufficient  to  answer  the  purpose  proposed, 
and  as  to  expense,  if  harmony  was  thus  secured,  it  would  be 


80  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

a  cheap  purchase.  The  vote  of  twenty-seven  against  seven  * 
shows  that  the  majority  were  in  "  mad  haste  "  to  consum- 
mate the  change  in  the  form  of  government.  Office  was 
their  aim,  and  they  were  gratified. 

The  settlement  of  the  ATest,  connected  with  the  bring- 
ing into  existence  the  great  state  of  Ohio,  may  be  consid- 
ered an  epoch  in  the  history  of  our  common  country.  The 
opinions  and  actions  of  the  founders  of  states  enter  into 
and  influence  their  future  course,  and  do  much  toward  de- 
termining their  character.  We  owe  it  to  them  to  leave 
on  record  their  worthy  deeds.  Xothing  is  better  calcu- 
lated to  excite  to  noble  actions  than  to  preserve  from 
oblivion  the  memory  of  those  whose  efforts  have  placed 
our  country  in  the  high  position  already  attained  in  the 
short  period  since  we  became  a  nation,  and  it  is  as  well 
to  preserve  as  much  as  possible  of  that  which  adorns  the 
character  of  those  who  laid  the  foundation  of  law,  and 
order,  and  peace,  in  the  great  West. 

The  scant  courtesy  which  Grovernor  St.  Clair  received  at 
the  hands  of  the  convention,  at  the  beginning  of  the  ses- 
sion, on  the  occasion  of  his  address  to  them,  was  keenly 
felt  by  his  friends.  His  course,  however,  was  dignified  and 
conciliatory. 

He  was  at  this  time  not  far  from  seventy  years  of  age, 
about  live  feet  ten  inches  in  height,  neither  spare  nor  cor- 
pulent. His  hair  had  become  white,  his  features,  strongly 
marked,  were  lighted  up  by  bright  blue  eyes,  which  still 
retained  their  brilliancy.  His  manners  were  at  once  pol- 
ished and  dignified,  and  his  conversational  powers  were 
remarkably  fine.  Though  not  without  fault,  his  clear 
head,  his  marked  talents,  his  great  and  varied  knowledge, 
and  his  public  services,  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  ot 
the  eminent  men  of  his  day.  He  had  been  educated  a 
Presbyterian,  and  did  not  partake  of  the  infidelity  then 
jjrevalent,  but    always  spoke  of  religion   and  the  Bible 

*  Those  who  were  ia  favor  of  submitting  the  constitution  to  the  peo- 
ple were:  Messrs.  Cutler,  Gilman,  Mclntire,  and  Putnam,  of  Washing- 
ton county;  BazaWl  Wells  and  Nathan  UpdegrafF,  of  Jefferson  county, 
and  John  Keily,  of  Hamilton  county. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  81 

with  profound  respect.  Being  comparatively  young  when 
I  first  became  acquainted  with  Governor  St.  Clair,  I  have 
ever  felt  that  I  owed  much  to  his  influence.  After  the 
close  of  the  convention,  the  opposition  to  him  increased, 
and  he  was  removed  from  office,  even  before  the  state  gov- 
ernment came  into  operation, 

Ko  man  in  the  territory  more  entirely  deserved  and  en- 
joyed the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people  than  Gen- 
eral Rufus  Putnam.  He  had  with  General  Tapper  orig- 
inated the  idea  of  the  Ohio  Company,  and  had  been 
selected  as  the  leader  and  superintendent  of  the  colony 
who  made  the  first  settlement  at  Marietta,  a  position  for 
which  he  was  well  fitted  by  his  good  judgment,  intelli- 
gence, and  decision  of  character.  He  had  served  as  a 
private  soldier  in  the  Old  French  War,  and  also,  with 
great  distinction,  throughout  the  Revolution,  as  a  military 
engineer,  and  as  an  officer.  He  was  made  a  brigadier- 
general  near  the  close  of  the  war.  President  Washington 
commissioned  him,  in  1792,  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court 
of  the  territory,  and  in  1796  the  surveyor-general  of  the 
United  States.  He  was  faithful  and  energetic,  a  Christian 
as  well  as  a  patriot.  He,  too,  a  few  months  after  the  close 
of  the  convention,  was  deprived  of  his  office  by  the  same 
spirit  of  proscription  which  had  led  to  the  removal  of 
St.  Clair  as  governor. 

Benjamin  Ives  Oilman  was  a  native  of  Exeter,  Xew 
Hampshire.  He,  with  his  father,  Judge  Joseph  Oilman, 
came  to  Marietta  in  1789.  During  the  Indian  War  he 
had  some  narrow  escapes  from  the  rifle  and  tomahawk 
of  the  savages.  In  1802  he  has  largely  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  and  ship-building  at  Marietta.  Mr.  Gil- 
man  was  a  man  possessed  of  a  well  cultivated  and  su- 
perior intellect,  and  correct  principles,  and  in  physical  de- 
velopment was  a  most  perfect  type  of  manly  beauty  and 
dignity.  With  quick  and  clear  perceptions,  and  enlarged 
views,  he  was  one  of  the  most  useful  and  active  members 
of  the  convention. 

1^0  member  of  the  convention  was  more  generally  re- 
6 


82  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

spected  than  Mr.  Bazaleel  Wells/'''  He  was  a  truly  no- 
ble man,  well  informed,  collected,  and  digniiied  in  ap- 
pearance. Although  he  was  born  in  a  slave- state,  and 
many  of  his  family  connections  were  slave-owners,  his 
vote  and  influence  always  went  against  slavery.  There 
are  few  men  who,  in  the  heat  of  debate,  may  not  say  some 
things  they  shall  wish  unsaid,  but  it  was  not  so  with  him ; 
his  mind  was  so  well  balanced,  that  he  was  at  all  times 
clear,  calm,  and  candid  in  his  statements. 

The  scantiness  of  detail  in  the  journal  leaves  much  ob- 
scure as  to  the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  and  much 
unsaid  of  the  part  taken  by  such  men  as  Reily,  Smith, 
Dunlavy,  and  other  men  of  talent  and  intelligence,  which, 
if  known,  would  increase  respect  for  them,  and  whose  la- 
bors for  the  public  interest  should  be  remembered. 

Dr.  Cutler  writes  from  Washington,  December  26, 1802: 
"  Your  very  liumble  address  and  new  constitution  have 
been  laid  before  Congress  and  printed.  Some  parts  of 
your  constitution  are  very  good,  some  parts  I  do  not 
like,  and  some  parts  I  am  unable  to  understand.  AVhat 
will  be  done  with  the  propositions  you  otfer  for  the  ac- 
ceptance of  Congress  I  can  give  no  opinion.  All  depends 
on  the  dispositions  of  the  leaders.  You  have  so  humbly 
submitted  to  the  right  which  Congress  has  exercised  in 
making  laws  for  you,  should  they  reject  your  proposals, 
you  have  no  ground  to  complain." 


*  Bazaleel  Wells,  with  Hon.  James  Ross,  of  Pennsylvania,  laid  out 
Steubenville,  Ohio,  in  1798.  He  introduced  merino  sheep  into  the 
state,  very  early,  and  established  in  1814  a  woolen  manufactory  in 
the  town,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  extensive  manufactures 
of  that  place.  He  was  at  one  time  considered  the  most  wealthy  per- 
son in  eastern  Ohio,  but  afterward  met  with  reverses. — Howe's  History 
of  Ohio. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  83 


CHAPTER   V. 

(1803-1812.) 

SukvEYixG — Removal   to   Warren — Droving — A  Diary — 

War  of  1812. 

To  return  to  personal  matters.  In  July,  1803,  I  ob- 
tained from  General  Putnam,  then  Surveyor-General  of 
the  United  States,  a  contract  for  surveying  public  lands 
in  the  so-called  Military  Tract,  mostly  in  Guernsey  county, 
on  Wills's  creek,  west  of  Cambridge;  all  of  it  then  an 
entire  wilderness,  except  two  or  three  beginnings  of  farms 
on  Zane's  road.  I  was  about  three  months  performing 
this  labor,  subdividing  into  half  and  quarter  sections,  and 
was  allowed  at  the  r§.te  of  three  dollars  per  mile  for  every 
mile  actually  run  out  with  the  compass  and  measured  by 
the  chain,  as  compensation  for  the  whole  expense  of  the 
survey.  When  I  had  completed  the  work,  and  made  re- 
turns of  plats  and  descriptions  to  the  land  office  at  Zanes- 
ville,  and  to  the  Surveyor-General's  office,  I  received  for 
my  pay  an  order  for  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  on  General  Findley,''^  receiver  of  the  land  office  at 
Chillicothe.  In  riding  through  the  woods,  I  got  badly 
hurt  by  my  horse  passing  under  a  leaning  tree,  and  was 
for  some  time  unable  to  leave  home.  A  friend  then  living 
at  Chillicothe  came  to  see  me,  and  I  intrusted  the  order  to 


*  General  James  Fifi(iley,  soldier  and  politician,  was  born  in  Frank- 
lin county,  Pennsylvania,  about  1775,  and  died  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
December  28,  1835  He  emigrated  to  Cincinnati  in  1793,  and  was  one 
of  the  legislative  council  of  the  territory  in  1798.  He  was  receiver  of 
public  moneys  in  Cincinnati  district  frtmi  the  first  establishment  of  land 
offices  until  1824.  He  was  a  prominent  Democratic  leader,  and  often 
a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  was  also  colonel  of  the  Second  Ohio 
Volunteers  in  1812,  serving  under  General  Hull,  at  Detroit.  Member 
of  Congress,  1825-1833;  candidate  for  governor  in  1834. 


84  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

him,  to  draw  the  monev  from  General  Fiiidley  for  me. 
At  that  time,  John  Jacob  Astor  had  agents  purchasing 
skins  and  fars  throughout  the  country.  My  friend,  instead 
of  transacting  the  business  himself,  let  a  person  who  was 
engaged  in  a  bear-skin  speculation  take  the  order  and 
draw  the  money.  This  person  kept  nine  hundred  dollars 
of  it,  which  he  expended  in  the  pnrchase  of  bear-skins 
and  furs.  These  he  put  into  a  boat,  and  proceeded  with 
them  to  New  Orleans,  and  thence  by  sea  to  Boston,  where 
he  spent  the  avails  in  dissipation.  The  loss  of  this  hardly- 
earned  money  was  a  serious  disappointment  to  me. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  legislature,  I  believe,  after  the 
constitution  was  operative,  it  was  considered  necessary  by 
the  dominant  party  to  re-organize  the  militia.  This  was 
effected  by  carrying  out  an  ill-digested  law  passed  at  that 
time.  There  was  an  election  in  1804  for  a  brigadier-gen- 
eral of  the  first  brigade  of  the  third  division  of  the  Ohio 
militia.  At  a  meeting  of  the  field  and  compan}'  ofiicers  of 
the  second  resciment  of  that  brigade,  in  which  I  was 
major,*  it  was  almost  nnanimously  "resolved  to  consider 
me  as  their  candidate  for  that  office.  The  officers  in 
Washington  county  gave  me  at  the  election  nineteen  ma- 
jority. Muskingum  and  Belmont  counties  also  belonged 
to  the  brigade.  In  the  latter  county,  twelve  officers  who 
would  have  voted  for  me  were  prevented  from  doing  so 
by  the  secrecy  with  which  the  election  was  conducted, 
they  not  having  any  notice  of  the  time  when,  or  the  place 
where,  it  was  held.  ISTotwithstanding  the  means  used  to 
defeat  my  election,  I  had  a  clear  majority  of  five  votes  in 
the  brigade,  and  yet  the  major-general  returned  my  oppo- 
nent, E.  W.  Tupper,  as  elected,  and  Governor  Tiffin  com- 
missioned him  I  Democracy  was  in  the  ascendant,  and  I 
soon  found  m^^self  nothing  in  the  political  drama  but  sim- 
ply the  justice  of  the  peace  for  Ames  township.  As  I  had, 
during  a  very  important  period  of  my  life,  performed  the 


*  The  commission  of  Governor  St.  Clair  to  Ephraim  Cutler,  as  major 
of  the  second  regiment,  bears  date  June  13,  1801. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  85 

most  of  my  official  duties  without  a  cent  of  compensation, 
I  regarded  it  as  a  relief  from  an  intolerable  burden. 

I  was  necessarily  much  of  the  time  away  from  home, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  an  unusual  amount  of  care  had 
devolved  upon  Mrs.  Cutler.  She  had  a  talent  for  looking 
after  and  taking  care  of  business  superior  to  any  other 
woman  I  ever  saw.  Her  health  was  generally  good  until 
1804,  when  it  declined,  and  the  following  year  decided 
symptoms  of  consumption  were  manifested.  We  had 
lived  on  my  Federal  creek  farm  nearly  eight  years,  and 
had  made  considerable  improvements,  when  the  hope  of 
benefiting  Mrs.  Cutler,  by  removing  where  we  could  se- 
cure the  advice  and  care  of  a  physician,  induced  me  to 
lease  my  farm  and  go  to  Belpre.*  The  distance  was 
t"^'entv-seven  miles,  but  it  took  us  three  davs  to  accom- 
plish  it,  over  the  rough  road  which  led  through  the  forest 
to  Marietta.  This  road,  however,  we  left  at  Esquire 
Samuel  Brown's,  eight  miles  west  of  Marietta,  and  cut 
our  way  through  the  woods,  over  high  hills  and  across 
creeks,  for  five  miles,  to  the  bank  of  the  Ohio  river,  and 
arrived  about  sunset,  December  28,  1806,  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  Elias  Xewton,  where  we  remained  until  the  frame 
(which  I  had  bought)  of  a  building  prepared  for  a  mill, 
and  then  lying  on  the  bottom  a  mile  or  two  up  the  river, 
was  hauled  down  to  my  land,  raised,  covered,  inclosed, 
and  fitted  up  for  our  temporary  residence. 

I  had  purchased  of  General  Smith,  of  Baltimore  (in 
connection  with  Judge  Fearing  and  Major  Sproat),  a 
share  of  land  drawn  in  the  name  of  J.  Mercer.     I  retained 


*  About  this  time,  General  Putr.am  wrote  to  a  friend  :  "  Major  Cutler 
is  among  my  particular  friends.  ...  He  deals  considerably  in 
lands,  cattle,  and  horses,  and  probably  finds  his  advantage  in  it.  The 
beginning  of  winter,  I  understand,  he  had  seventy  head  of  neat  cattle, 
seventeen  horses,  mares,  and  colts  to  winter.  For  several  summers 
past,  I  believe  they  have  milked  from  twelve  to  fifteen  cows.  In  the 
few  years  he  has  been  on  his  farm,  he  has  made  very  great  improve- 
ments, much  beyond  any  other  man  in  his  neighborhood.  He  has 
lately  leased  his  farm  for  three  years,  and  has  settled  on  the  Ohio, 
about  six  miles  below  Marietta." 


86  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

for  my  own  use  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  acre  lot,  on  the 
Ohio,  six  miles  below  Marietta,  and  added  to  it  several 
small  lots  lying  near.  Here  I  proposed  to  make  my  home, 
and  that  winter  cleared  a  place  for  the  stone  house,  the 
foundations  of  which  were  laid  the  next  spring. 

The  winter  of  1806-7  was  very  cold,  followed  by  a  rainy, 
late  spring,  and  the  river  overflowed  the  low  bottom  lands 
two  or  three  times.  The  succeeding  summer,  the  whole 
region  was  visited  by  a  general  sickness — agues  and  re- 
mittent fevers — and  we  suffered  with  others.  During  the 
autumn,  Mrs.  Cutler's**  health  rapidly  declined,  and,  on 
the  3d  of  jSTovember,  she  gave  up  her  pure  spirit  to  her 
blessed  Redeemer.  Her  last  words  were :  "All  is  glorious," 
and  a  glow  of  supreme  pleasure  continued  visible  on  her 
face  long  after  death  had  done  its  office.  At  that  time, 
my  brother.  Temple  Cutler,  was  here  on  his  first  visit  to 
Ohio,  and  was  about  returning  on  horseback  to  Massa- 
chusetts. I  decided  to  send  with  him,  to  the  care  of  my 
parents,  my  youngest  son,  Daniel,  not  yet  nine  years  old. 
I  furnished  him  with  a  fine  horse,  and  the  journey  was 
completed  in  twenty  days.  He  remained  there  until  1816, 
when  he  returned  to  the  w^est. 

The  first  settlement  of  this  place,  afterward  organized 
as  Warren  township,  was  made  as  early  as  1799,  and  was 
called  I^ogle-town,  for  one  of  the  original  settlers.  It  was 
located  on  reserved  Congress  section  No.  8,  and  consisted 
of  a  row  of  log  cabins  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  did 
not  present  an  inviting  appearance,  as  those  who  occupied 
them  were  not  owners  of  the  soil,  and  made  only  tem- 
porary improvements.  Except  Section  No.  8,  the  good 
bottom  lands  were  nearly  all  surveyed  into  eight-acre  lots, 
and  belonged  to  shares  in  the  Ohio  Company,  and  were 

*  Mrs.  Leah  Cutler  died  at  the  age  of  forty-two  years.  She  united 
with  the  Congregational  Church,  in  Marietta,  March  30,  I80G.  General 
R.  Putnam,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  M.  Cutler,  dated  March  17,  1807,  writes: 
"  Mrs.  Cutler  is  not  only  esteemed  an  excellent  woman,  but  also  a 
pious,  sensible  Christian.  She  made  a  profession  of  religion  about  a 
year  ago,  and  in  her  examination  discovered  such  experimental,  as 
well  as  doctrinal  knowledge,  as  gave  great  satisfaction." 


Life  of  Ephrahn  Cutler.  H7 

owned  by  persons  living  at  a  distance,  some  even  in  En- 
rope.  It  was  very  difficnlt  to  obtain  enougb  of  tbese 
small  lots  lyina:  too:etlier  to  make  a  farm  of  convenient 
size,  and  on  this  account,  although  they  comprised  some 
of  the  finest  land  in  the  township,  men  of  property  were 
not  inclined  to  settle  on  them.  Much  of  the  land  back 
from  the  river  was  owned  by  non-resident  proprietors,  and 
long  continued  uncultivated.  From  these  circumstances, 
settlement  progressed  slowly.  In  the  years  1804  and  1805, 
Mr.  Eli  as  Newton,  Mr.  Seth  Bailey,  Mr.  William  Smith, 
Mr.  John  Cole,  and  his  sons,  purchased  hind,  and  com- 
menced improvements.  Most  of  them  erected  neat  frame 
houses  on  their  farms ;  the  frames  and  lumber  for  these 
were  brouo'ht  in  rafts  from  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio. 
In  1806,  Mr.  John  Henry  came  with  his  family,  and  in  the 
same  year  Congress  section  No.  8,  which  makes  perhaps 
the  best  farm  in  the  township,  was  bought  and  taken  pos- 
session of  by  Isaac  Ilumphreys,  Esq. 

In  January,  1807,  the  following  persons,  with  their  fam- 
ilies, composed  the  population  of  the  territory,  afterward 
included  in  the  boundaries  of  Warren,  viz :  John  Cole, 
and  his  sons,  Xathan,  Ichabod,  Asa,  and  Philip;  Willard 
Harris,  Thomas  Patten,  J.  Harden,  Ezekiel  Finch,  Will- 
iam Hutchinson,  Isaac  Ilumphreys,  vSeth  Bailey,  Timothy 
Cone,  Elias  Newton,  William  Smith,  John  Henry,  Samuel 
Brown,  Gideon  Rathbun,  Jonathan  Dunham,  Amos  Dun- 
ham, and  Ephraim  Cutler.  As  the  number  of  inhabitants 
increased,  we  petitioned  the  county  commissioners  to  es- 
tablish us  a  township  for  political  purposes.  This  petition 
was  granted  September  o,  1810;  and  the  township  was  in- 
corporated by  the  name  of  Warren,  to  keep  in  remem- 
brance the  services  and  sacrifice  of  that  eminent  man. 
General  Joseph  Warren,  who  was  slain  at  the  memorable 
battle  of  Bunker's  Hill.  That  part  of  Warren  which  is 
in  township  No.  2  of  the  9th  range,  was  originally  in  Ma- 
rietta; the  remainder  was  included  in  Belpre. 

My  new  place,  on  the  bank  of  the  Ohio,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  about  ten  acres  which  had  been  cleared  on  two 
of  the  small  lots,  was  in  its  wild  state,  the  rich  bottom  be- 


88  Life  of  Ephraiyn  Cutler. 

ing  covered  witli  a  heavy  growth  of  wahmt,  maple,  and 
beech,  very  expensive  to  remove,  and  money  was  exceed- 
ingly scarce.  The  building  of  the  stone  house  cost  more 
than  I  expected.  It  absorbed  all  my  means,  except  my 
lands. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  1808,  I  was  married  to  Miss  Sally 
Parker,  a  native  of  Newljuryport,  Massachusetts.  We  had 
to  strufiTffle  with  manv  difficulties.  I  was  embarrassed  with 
debts,  and  it  was  more  than  two  years  from  its  commence- 
ment before  our  house  was  ready  to  be  occupied.  For 
some  years  I  was  much  engaged  in  clearing,  improving, 
and  fencing  my  farm.  But,  b}^  the  blessing  of  Providence 
upon  our  eiibrts,  we  eventually  succeeded  in  establishing 
a  comfortable  and  pleasant  home. 

In  the  early  history  of  Warren  the  progress  of  improve- 
ment in  morals,  intelligence,  and  property  was  slow. 
Habits  prevailed  which  are  incident  to  new  countries 
where  the  gospel  is  not  preached.  For  several  years  there 
was  no  house  for  holding  public  meetings  and  no  stated 
means  of  grace.  Ministers,  passing  through  the  place,  or 
visiting  here,  would  occasionally  preach  a  sermon  in  our 
own  house  wliich  the  neighbors  were  invited  to  attend. 
Among  those  who  thus  favored  us  were  the  Rev.  Samuel 
P.  Robbing,  of  Marietta,  Rev,  Mr.  Gould,  of  Gallipolis,  and 
Rev.  Jacob  Lindlev,  of  Athens. 

In  the  winter  of  1809-10,  the  iirst  school  kept  here  was 
accommodated  in  our  sitting-room.  It  was  taught  by 
John  Brown,  a  son  of  Captain  Benjamin  Brown,  of  Ames, 
whose  intelligence,  good  sense,  and  decision  of  character, 
made  him  a  very  successful  teacher.  He  was  afterward 
well  known  as  General  Brown,  of  Athens,  for  many  years 
the  treasurer  of  the  Ohio  University.  In  1810,  a  log 
school-house  was  built  on  my  upper  place  (a  farm  lying 
further  up  the  river),  that  served  for  several  years  not  only 
for  school  pur})Oses,  but  for  holding  elections,  and  re- 
ligious or  other  public  meetings.  Our  common  schools 
were  liberally  supported.  They  were  taught  in  winter  by 
l)r.  John  McMillan,  Mr.  John  Adams,  and  other  compe- 
tent teachers,  and  in  summer  the  school  was  for  a  long 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  89 

time  in  charge  of  Miss  Sally  Rice,  of  Ames,  or  Miss  Mary 
Ann  Cutler,  daughter  of  Major  Jervis  Cutler,  then  recently 
from  Massachusetts.  They  Avere  hoth  refined  and  culti- 
vated young  women. 

The  first  effort  for  religious  instruction  in  the  place  was 
the  establishment  of  a  Sabbath-school.  It  was  commenced 
May  23,  1810,  and  continued  through  the  summer  by  Mr. 
Joshua  Shipman,  of  Marietta,  and  Miss  Mary  Ann  Cutler. 
The  scholars  were  taught  the  catechism,  and  committed 
to  memory  portions  of  Scripture.  The  school  was  con- 
tinued for  several  years,  and  resulted  in  much  good. 
Bishop  Moms  and  other  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  held  services  occasionally  in  the  township, 
and  as  years  passed  two  or  three  classes  were  formed 
within  its  limits.  The  first  church  organized  in  our  im- 
mediate vicinity  was  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  AVarren, 
formed  February  23,  1828,  by  the  Presbytery  of  Athens; 
and  the  liev.  Addison  Kingsbury  became  its  able  and 
faithful  pastor.  The  introduction  of  the  ordinances  and 
instructions  of  the  gospel,  with  bible  classes,  Sabbath- 
schools,  and  temperance  societies,  purified  and  elevated 
the  community. 

Judge  Cutler's  consecutive  narrative  proceeds  no  farther. 
The  remainder  of  the  volume  consists  of  such  materials  as 
have  been  found  among  the  family  papers,  principally 
letters,  short  sketches,  and  diaries,  which  are  thought  to 
be  worth  preserving,  with  which  are  intermingled  extracts 
from  public  journals. 

Writing  of  a  business  in  which  he  engaged  for  many 
years,  he  says  :  "  When  I  resided  in  Ames  township,  with 
a  view  to  encourage  settlers  to  come  into  that  part  of  the 
country,  I  bought  on  credit  a  considerable  amount  of  land 
from  proprietors  in  jSTew  England,  wdiich  I  sold  to  settlers 
on  credit,  trusting  them  until  they  could  raise  wheat  or 
cattle,  usually  the  latter,  to  pay  me  for  their  farms.  This 
early  led  me  into  the  droving  business.  I  commenced 
this  traffic  in  1800,  and  it  was  said  that  I  drove  the  first 
cattle  over  the  mountains  to  eastern  markets  ever  taken 
from  Ohio.     I  did  more  or  less  of  this  laborious  business, 


90  Life  of  Ephraim    Cutler. 

annually,  for  thirty  years.  Small  profit  generally  resulted 
to  me,  but  necessity  controlled  it.  Eventually,  many  poor 
families  were  placed  in  very  flourishing  circumstances,  who 
had  nothing  with  which  to  buy  land,  nor  a  dollar  to  spare 
for  years  after  they  made  the  purchase  of  me.  I  thus 
aided  some  two  hundred  families  to  acquire  homes.  A 
number  of  these  have  become  wealthy,  and  many  are 
scattered  far  and  wide  in  the  great  West.  I  believe,  for  the 
most  part,  they  have  established  good  and  honorable 
characters," 

Droves  of  cattle  or  swine  which  in  1889  may  be  started 
from  the  Ohio  river  at  Bel  pre  by  railroad  o*ne  day  and 
offered  in  the  Baltimore  markets  on  the  next,  would  have 
been  in  1800,  and  for  many  years  after,  six  weeks  or  more 
in  transit.  A  diary,  kept  during  one  of  these  tedious 
journeys  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1809,  more  full 
than  others  found  in  his  memorandum  book,  is  here  in- 
serted. It  shows  some  of  the  delaj^s  and  difficulties  en- 
countered by  those  who  then  engaged  in  this  traffic,  and  it 
is  not  without  interest  as  a  picture  of  the  country  and 
times  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Tuesday,  July  25,  1809.  Started  with  eighty-six  head 
of  cattle,  and  crossed  the  Ohio  river  six  miles  from  Mari- 
etta, and  drove  on  to  Charles  Ferry's  place. 

Wednesday,  Jul;/  26.  Drove  to  Husher's,  twenty-six 
miles. 

Thursday,  July  27.  Lose  twenty  head  of  cattle  in  the 
woods.  Drive  the  remainder  to  Webster's,  where  my 
drove  joins  that  of  Browning  and  Dana  and  goes  on.  Buy 
two  steers  of  Husher  for  thirty-two  dollars.  Return  after 
the  lost  cattle,  find  eighteen  head,  and  get  them  to 
Webster's. 

Friday,  July  28.  Still  hunt,  but  without  success,  for  the 
two  missing  steers  ;  then  go  on  to  Nathan  Davis's  with  the 
eighteen  head. 

Saturday,  July  29.  Drive  to  within  three  miles  of  Clarks- 
burg. Find  on  the  way  a  steer,  which  Charles,  who  went 
on  with  the  drove,  had  lost. 

K'uvday,  July  30.     One  of  my  oxen  very  sick  from  eating 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  91 

laurel,  leave  him,  and  start  on.  Soon  find  another  very 
sick,  and  leave  him  at  Isaac  Copeland's.  A  little  beyond 
Simpson's  creek  I  lose  again  the  whole  of  my  cattle  (in 
the  underbrush),  and  hunt  for  them  till  sunset,  when  I 
find  sixteen,  and  soon  after  the  other  one.  Stay  all  night 
at  Devol's — a  merry  old  fellow. 

Monday^  July  31.  At  Plummer's  find  another  steer  sick, 
and  leave  him  at  Johnson's.  Go  on  to  Gaudy's,  where  I 
overtake  the  drove. 

Tuesday,  August  i.  Drive  to  Thomas's,  on  Cheat  river, 
and  leave  a  steer  sick. 

Wednesday,  August  2.  Drive  to  Johnson's,  on  Big 
Youffh. 

Thursday,  August  3.  Another  steer  sick.  Divide  our 
cattle  (from  Browning  and  Dana's)  and  drive  to  the  Glades, 
near  Hamill's. 

Friday,  August  4.  Discharge  two  hands.  After  salting 
the  cattle,  leave  them  in  pasture  in  Charles's  care  and  go 
on  to  Westernport,  and  stay  all  night  at  Davis's,  Have 
not  been  well  for  three  or  four  davs. 

Saturday,  August  5.  Go  on  to  Moseby's  store.  Mr. 
Pierce,  who  is  concerned  with  Moseby,  invntes  me  to  dine, 
and  gives  me  encouragement  that  he  will  view  and  buy 
my  cattle.  Fell  in  company  with  an  old  quaker,  who  lives 
up  New  creek.  He  tells  me  of  the  remarkable  cures 
effected  by  the  new  spring  discovered  in  the  Alleghany 
mountains.  A  man,  who  had  been  long  sick,  dreamed  of 
taking  the  water  from  a  spring,  which  relieved  him.  A 
neighbor  to  whom  he  described  the  place  as  it  appeared 
in  his  dream,  knew  of  a  spring  that  answered  the  de- 
scription, and  went  and  brought  some  of  the  water,  which 
so  relieved  and  strengthened  the  invalid,  that  he  was 
shortly  able  to  go  there  himself,  and  soon  recovered  per- 
fect health,  which  he  had  not  enjoyed  for  several  years. 
Three  men,  it  was  stated,  who  were  bald,  by  washing  in 
the  spring  water,  had  the  hair  grow  upon  the  baldness, 
and  deaf  people  were  cured,  etc.  In  the  afternoon,  I  go 
over  to  Patterson's  creek.     A  muster  held  at  Vanderver's 


92  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

store,  wliere  tlie  people  raffle  for  a  watch.     Go  home  with 
Mr.  Vanderver. 

Sunday,  August  6.  Still  feel  unwell.  Mr.  Vanderver  is 
rich,  but  I  did  not  see  a  pair  of  bars  or  a  gate  on  his  farm. 
The  house  is  full  of  ne2:roes.  I  noticed  several  religious 
books,  mostly  memoirs  of  Methodists,  and  also  "  Simpson's 
Plea  for  Religion,"  an  excellent  new  publication.  His 
wife  appears  to  be  a  religious  woman,  plain,  but  well  dis- 
posed. The  house  is  small,  but  very  neat.  I  had  a  clean 
and  excellent  bed.  The  Baptists  held  a  meeting  at  a 
house  near  the  store. 

I  went  down  the  creek,  and  stopped  at  Mr.  Johnson's, 
who  invited  me  to  dine.  He  told  me  that  Mr.  Miller,  who 
had  been  down  with  Williams's  cattle,  left  there  the  day 
before,  and  that  they  sold  at  Baltimore  at  $6,  $7,  and  |7J 
per  hundred-weight.  Went  on  to  Adams's  and  Parker's. 
Monday,  August  7.  Came  back  to  Backbone.  Stopped 
at  Mr.  McCartey's  merchant  mill.  Stream  very  small, 
yet,  notwithstanding  the  great  drouth,  the  mill  went 
briskly.  The  miller  was  so  polite  as  to  show  me  all  the 
machinery,  elevators,  rolling  screens,  coolers,  merchant 
bolt,  packing,  etc.,  and  set  them  all  in  motion  to  oblige 
me.  Corn,  hay,  and  crops  generally,  look  very  miserably 
wherever  I  have  been.  Called  at  Moseby's,  Davis's,  and 
Scrabble.  At  the  latter  place,  fell  in  company  with  a 
man  on  his  way  to  Scioto.     Write  a  letter  to  send  home. 

Juesday,  August  8.  Mr.  Pierce  came  to  view  my  cattle, 
as  he  agreed.  In  the  evening,  Mr.  David  Parsons  came 
from  Romney  on  the  same  errand. 

Wednesday,  August  9.  Parsons  goes  to  see  Foley's  cattle 
at  Big  Yough.     No  sales  yet. 

Thursday,  August  10.  Have  sent  Charles  back  to  Cheat 
river,  to  inquire  after  the  steer  we  left  at  Thomas's,  sick. 
These  Glades  are  a  most  delightful  place.  Tlie  high  grsss 
waving  in  the  wind,  beautiful  shade-trees  in  clusters,  with 
the  distant  hills,  present  a  most  pleasing  prospect.  Some 
of  these  natural  meadows  are  miles  in  extent,  and  the  va- 
riety of  scenery  is  wonderful.  On  one  hand  are  groups 
of  pines  murmuring  in   the  breeze;  before  me  is  a  clear 


Life  of  Ephraim    Cutler.  93 

and  gently  meandering  stream,  where  frolics  the  delicious 
trout,  clothed  with  his  beautiful  spotted  coat;  and  on  the 
other  hand  rises  the  lofty  Backbone,  the  highest  land  in 
this  part  of  America.  These  scenes,  with  this  pure  air, 
conspire  to  enliven  and  elevate  our  ideas.  The  great 
author  of  all  good  has  been  bountiful,  but  degenerate 
man  makes  poor  return  for  these  and  ten  thousand  other 
blessings. 

Friday,  August  11.  A  rainy  morning.  Colonel  Linn 
came  here  with  cattle  he  has  been  purchasing  in  George's 
Hill  Glades  and  about  the  Backbone.  He  has  sixty- seven 
head,  and  tells  me  he  has  about  one  hundred  and  forty  at 
home.  He  is  an  old  revolutionary  veteran.  Time  has 
silvered  his  locks,  but  he  is  very  lively  and  pleasant  in 
conversation,  and  well  informed.  A  true  and  warm  friend 
of  his  country,  he  fought  her  battles  in  those  times  which 
tried  men's  souls.  He  came  in  cold  and  wet,  and  took  up 
a  vile  Democratic  paper  called  "  The  Whig,"  which  in  al- 
most every  column  branded  him  and  such  like  characters 
with  the  epithet  "  Tory."  He  read  it  with  composure, 
while  breakfast  was  preparing.  At  the  table,  we  fell  into 
conversation  on  the  prospect  of  war.  Our  conversation 
soon  turned  upon  Wilkinson,  as  commander  of  the  army. 
He  said  that  he  believed  tliere  would  not  an  honest  man 
hold  a  commission  under  him,  and  mentioned  a  recent  in- 
stance of  the  resignation  of  a  captain,  a  young  gentleman 
of  the  first  talents  and  fortune,  who  disdained  to  serve 
under  a  coward,  traitor,  and  villain.  I  mentioned  the 
case  of  Jervis.  He  instantly  took  the  "  Federal  Repub- 
lican "  from  his  pocket,  and  read  the  account  which  I  sent 
to  the  "  Supporter."  He  said  that  he  had  put  the  paper 
in  his  pocket,  in  order  to  show  it  to  several  of  his  friends, 
as  an  instance  of  turpitude  in  the  late  administration. 
After  breakfast,  he  went  and  viewed  my  cattle,  and  ofiered 
every  assistance  to  find  a  market ;  and  insisted,  if  I  came 
down  again,  I  should  ride  over  and  see  him.  He  lives 
about  eleven  miles  from  this  place,  in  one  of  these  charm- 
ing Glades.  Dr.  McHenry,  late  Secretary  of  War,  and 
his  lady,  are  on  a  visit  at  his  house,  where  they  will  stay 


94  Life  of  E^ihraim  Cutler. 

until  autumn.  We  parted  with  mutual  invitations  and 
assurances  of  friendship.  Charles  returned  in  the  after- 
noon with  the  steer  left  at  Cheat  river,  and  we  got  the 
cattle  all  up  in  pasture. 

Saturday,  August  12.  Conclude  to  leave  Hamill's, 
who  has  treated  us  with  friendship  and  kindness.  Lose 
cattle  ;  Charles  went  back,  and  found  all  but  two.  The 
prospect  in  descending  Alleghany  is  very  pleasing,  there 
are  about  thirty  farms  on  George's  Hills  under  view  at  one 
time — a  beautiful  house  and  fine  farm  apparently  two  or 
three  miles  off.  We  stop  at  a  Dutchman's  at  the  mouth 
of  Savage,  named  John  Brant,  newly  come  there.  The 
woman  came  out  and  tripped  down  to  the  river  to  call  her 
husband.  The  house  looked  very  shabby,  and  I  expected 
poor  fare.  I  thought  if  we  could  get  a  little  milk  it  would 
be  the  best  we  would  get,  and  expected  to  lie  on  the  floor 
and  be  a  prey  to  the  fleas.  But  appearances  are  deceitful. 
We  went  in  after  taking  care  of  our  cattle,  and  found 
every  thing  orderly  and  clean,  and  asked  for  supper.  The 
woman  had  four  small  children,  and  no  help.  She  in- 
quired which  we  would  have,  coflee  or  tea  ?  I  told  her 
coflee,  and  in  a  few  minutes  she  had  a  chicken  killed, 
dressed,  and  on  tlie  table,  with  bacon,  coddled  apples, 
pickles,  cucumbers,  apple  pie,  and  I  know  not  what  all. 
The  table  was  set  with  the  neatest  china,  and  every  thing 
had  a  most  exquisite  taste  ;  coffee,  clear  as  amber ;  and  all 
done  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  They  both  appeared 
like  cheerfulness  itself.  In  the  room  where  we  lodged, 
was  a  nice  bed,  an  elegant  clock,  a  handsome  beaufet,  well 
filled.  How  much  depends  on  woman  to  make  this  world 
tolerable  I 

oujiday,  August  13.  Stay  all  day  at  Brant's.  Charles 
goes  back  after  the  two  steers  we  lost,  and  returns  with 
them  in  the  evening. 

31otiday,  August  14.  On  the  way  over  Savage  Mountain 
meet  two  or  three  droves  of  negroes.  Gave  one  of  the 
drivers,  and  the  master,  who  rode  in  a  carriage,  a  lecture 
they  will  be  likely  to  remember.  I  felt  some  energy,  and 
what  little  humanity  I  possess  was  roused  at  this  shocking 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  95 

eight.  We  stopped  at  Davis's  and  had  hreakfast,  and 
hired  a  hand  to  help  with  the  cattle,  and  drove  on  to 
Long's,  on  the  farther  side  of  Knobly. 

Tuesday,  August  15,  Losetwo  steers,  and  liave  to  stay 
and  hunt  them.  Overtake  the  boys  at  Frankfort,  and 
drive  to  Dr.  Dunn's  farm.  Pasture  very  poor  ;  the  drouth 
has  been  extremely  severe. 

Wednesday,  August  16.  Drive  to  Colonel  Rawling's  place 
at  the  mouth  of  Patterson's  creek,  and  stop  and  bait  our 
cattle  for  one  hour.  This  is  a  most  delightful  place,  but 
the  kind  and  generous  proprietor  is  no  more.  He  gave 
freedom  to  all  his  slaves,  to  commence  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight,  divided  his  estate  among  his  three  children, 
and  gave  suitable  legacies  to  the  three  oldest  blacks.  Very 
neat  house  and  gardens,  and  out-houses  well  contrived. 
The  house  stands  on  an  elevated  spot,  at  the  confluence  of 
Patterson's  creek  with  the  north  branch  of  Potomac.  A 
full  view  of  the  river,  for  a  considerable  distance,  enlivens 
and  beautifies  the  scene.  There  is  great  diversity  of  land- 
scape— meadows,  gentle  hills,  and  lofty  mountains  in  sight. 
The  house  is  retired  a  small  distance  from  the  .road,  a  line 
orchard  and  a  variety  of  beautiful  trees,  near  and  about 
the  house,  form  part  of  the  scenery. 

Thursday,  August  17.  Drive  to  Mr.  Black's,  at  Fifteen 
Mile  creek.  Sell  some  steers  to  Andrew  Moore,  of  Ship- 
pensburg,  for  |112.50.  I  know  not  when  I  have  met  with 
more  disinterested  kindness  than  this  day.  We  had  left 
two  steers  in  the  woods  at  Mains's  (where  we  staid  Wed- 
nesday night),  for  we  could  get  no  pasture.  Mr.  Black 
came  along  and  saw  them  in  the  road,  and,  from  their 
size  and  appearance,  believing  them  to  be  mine,  he  drove 
them  on,  seven  miles,  to  me.  We  go  on  seven  miles,  and 
stay  at  Lowder's — a  very  honest,  clever  Dut(5hman,  good 
and  hospitable  ;  every  thing  excellent. 

Friday,  August  18.  Last  evening,  a  Mr.  Hager,  son  of 
the  proprietor  of  Hagerstown,  stopped  and  wished  us  to 
call  at  Portmansear's,  and  bring  on  a  steer  for  him.  Ac- 
cordingly we  called,  and  found  him  there.     Breakfasted. 


96  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

A  steer  taken  sick;  leave  him,  and  drive  on  nineteen 
miles. 

Saturday,  August  19.  Stopped  at  Snyder's.  Good 
breakfast. 

Sunday,  August  20.  Came  through  Hagerstown  ;  stop- 
ped and  saw  Mr.  Hager,  who  introduced  me  to  several 
gentlemen,  among  others  to  Mr.  Charles  Worland  and  Mr. 
Delihunt,  who  assured  me  he  had  pasture,  and  that  there 
would  be  many  buyers  at  his  farm  ;  drove  there.  He  and 
Mr.  Worland  came  out  with  me.  He  lives  four  miles  from 
town,  and  has  a  most  lovely  farm  ;  an  hundred  acres  in  a 
pasture,  the  whole  interspersed  with  mulberry,  walnut, 
and  cypress  trees  ;  a  most  delicious  stream  runs,  clear  and 
swift,  through  the  middle  of  it;  and  through  the  center 
of  a  meadow  of  fifty  acres,  a  fine  mill-stream  is  taught  to 
run  straight  by  the  art  of  man.  This  stream  is  dammed 
at  its  entrance  into  the  meadow,  and  from  thence,  by  lit- 
tle canals,  it  waters  the  whole,  and  spreads  a  green  luxu- 
riance over  it,  contrasting  with  the  dry  uplands  in  a  most 
pleasing  and  striking  manner.  The  willows,  the  lofty 
elms,  the  ancient  stone  buildings,  the  fruit  trees  and  gar- 
dens, all  contribute  to  make  the  scene  interesting.  Here 
is  an  old  fort  constructed  over  a  very  large  spring ;  the 
stone  walls  are  more  than  twenty  feet  high,  and  four  feet 
thick  made  of  limestone.  It  is  built  in  the  form  of  an  L, 
with  two  fronts  of  about  forty  feet.  It  was  built  a  long 
time  ago,  perhaps  seventy-five  years,  as  a  defense  against 
the  Indians.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  a  very  rich,  beautiful, 
level  country,  settled  almost  exclusively  by  Dutch,  who 
are  wealthy,  but  ignorant. 

31onday,  August  21.  In  the  morning  I  was  awakened 
by  Mr.  Delihunt,  who  told  me  his  spring-house,  which  is 
in  part  of  the  Old  Fort,  had  been  broken  open,  and  also 
his  stable,  and  that  my  horse  was  stolen.  He  immediately 
got  up  his  horses,  and  sent  a  young  man  one  way,  while 
he  and  I  hastened  to  town,  where,  I  believe,  he  soon  in- 
formed the  most  of  the  people  in  it  that  we  suspected  a 
runaway  negro,  who  belongs  to  one  Cook.  Mr.  Cook 
took  a  horse  and  rode  with  us  till  2  o'clock. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  97 

Tuesday,  August  22.  Mr.  Gilbert,  who  is  a  near  neigh- 
bor to  Mr.  Delihunt,  came  over  early  and  informed  me 
that  my  horse  was  taken  up  about  five  miles  from  here  on 
the  road  to  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  We  went  and  found 
him,  and  gave  the  man  a  dollar.  Rode  to  town  in  the 
afternoon,     '^o  cattle-buyers,  and  prospects  gloomy. 

Wednesday,  August  23.  Went  to  town  and  saw  Mr. 
Hager  and  Charles  Worland,  and  got  my  horse  shod.  Ex- 
tremely dry,  and  prospects  very  dull.  Yesterday  six  hun- 
dred head  of  cattle  went  on  to  Pennsylvania. 

Ihursday,  August  24.  Conclude  to  start.  Bill  at  Deli- 
hunt's,  ^13.50.  Sold  him  one  steer  at  $8.  He  sent  his  son 
with  me  to  Bland's,  four  miles,  where  I  sold  two 
cattle  at  $18  and  $14.  Sold  to  Mr.  Maurice  Baker  five 
head  at  $17  round.  He  treated  me  with  great  kindness, 
and  made  me  stay  to  dine.  Go  on  three  miles,  and  stop 
at  a  Dutch  tavern. 

Friday,  August  25.  Go  to  Mechanicstown,  and  on 
through  Creagerstown.  Saw  a  fat  fellow  very  much  en- 
gaged in  electioneering,  and  an  old  gray-headed  man,  sev- 
enty-five years  old,  swearing  in  a  shocking  manner.  Town 
and  people  appeared  much  alike.  Came  on  to  Liberty, 
aiid  got  my  cattle  in  pasture  at  Mr.  Richard  Cole's,  who 
appears  to  be  much  of  a  gentleman.  Put  up  at  J.  L. 
Dorsey's.  A  horse-race  has  been  held  here  for  three  days, 
and  the  people  are  noisy  and  drunken. 

Sunday,  August  27.  I  have  spent  two  nights  and  a 
day,  in  a  most  disagreeable  noise  and  riot.  Yesterday 
morning,  early,  two  men  quarreled,  and  came  near  fight- 
ing; then,  about  noon,  a  young  man  and  another  fellow, 
apparently  about  thirty  years  old,  began  a  quarrel,  and 
the  eldest  knocked  the  younger  one  down,  and  he  lay  un- 
conscious for  some  time.  In  the  evening  the  young  man's 
father,  seventy-five  years  old,  came  and  whipped  the  other 
fellow.  This  is  a  very  pleasant  little  town.  Mr.  Cole, 
Mr.  Capster,  and  Dr.  Sappington,  are  very  gentlemanly, 
well  informed,  and  in  easy  circumstances.  Mr.  Capster 
came  early  this  morning,  and  invited  me  over  to  his  house, 
7 


98  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

where  I  tarried  a  couple  of  hours.  Mr.  Cole  has  invited 
me  several  times,  and  I  have  spent  a  good  deal  of  my  time 
at  his  house.  Dr.  Sappington  has  just  left  me  ;  he  was 
here  an  hour  or  two,  when  a  servant  came  and  called  him 
to  a  sick:  child.  These  gentlemen  each  have  very  hand- 
some houses.  Cole's  and  Capster's  are  of  brick,  large,  and 
well  furnished.  The  town  (Libert}^)  is  built  on  two  hills, 
a  small  stream  runs  in  the  valley  between  ;  on  the  eastern 
hill  stand  the  buildings  I  have  iiientioned,  and  perhaps 
twenty  other  decent  houses — several  of  them  are  built  of 
stone.  There  are  only  two  taverns  in  the  place,  and  this 
is  the  best.  The  people  appear  to  be  mostly  very  indus- 
trious mechanics,  live  handsomely,  and  are  steady  and  well 
behaved.  The  noise,  at  the  house  where  I  am,  was  occa- 
sioned, principally,  by  those  who  came  here  to  attend  the 
races. 

3Iond(Hj,  Atujast  28.  I  was  last  evening  at  a  Methodist 
meeting.  There  was  a  considerable  collection  of  people, 
and  I  went  in  and  sat  down.  Very  soon  a  man  began  to 
sing  a  hymn  in  a  familiar  song-tune.  The  preacher  then 
read  a  psalm.  As  soon  as  he  was  done,  all  the  people  rose 
and  sang  until  the  principal  singer  tired  himself  out  by  his 
loud  singing  and  violent  exertion.  After  this  the  minis- 
ter prayed,  during  which  there  was  a  constant  noise  all 
over  the  house,  with  frequent  responses,  and  repetitions 
of  liis  prayer ;  the  negroes,  especially,  exclaiming,  "  Oh, 
Lord!  hear  our  prayer,"  "Oh,  Lord!  bless  us,"  and 
"Amen  !"  Then  there  was  singing  again,  then  an  exhor- 
tation, without  any  text  or  particular  subject,  then  another 
hymn.  Soon  I  heard  a  jumping  and  slapping  of  hands,  and 
a  person  cry  "  Glory,"  and  then  heard  her  fall  (I  believe  it 
was  a  wench),  she  appeared  distressed  for  breath,  but  con- 
tinued crying,  "  Glory  !"  "  Oh,  Lord  !"  "  Oh,  Jesus  !"  un- 
til I  came  away.  In  all  this  confusion  the  principal  singer 
was  on  his  knees  praying,  and  was  joined  by  a  great  num- 
ber of  others,  negroes  and  devout  whites,  till  he  was  ex- 
hausted by  his  vehemence,  when  they  sang  another  hymn. 
It  grew  late,  and  I  left  the  meeting.  I  was  moved  to  see 
the  fervency  of  the  poor  blacks. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  99 

Tuesday,  August  29.  Leave  Liberty.  Sold  to-day,  in 
small  lots,  thirteen  head,  amounting  to  $290. 

Wednesday,  Aucjust  30.  At  Hanover  sold  four  steers  for 
|44.     Drive  to  Widow  Eichelberger's. 

Thursday,  August  31.  Sold  eight  cattle  at  $17 J  to  David 
Eaton,  overseer  of  Coleman's  Forge;  and  four  more  to 
Valentine  Amit,  five  miles  short  of  York,  at  $30.  Stop  at 
Thomas  Eichelberger's. 

York,  Pennsylvania,  Friday,  September  1,  1809.  At  Mr. 
Thomas  Eichelberger's.  York  is  situated  in  a  rich  valley ; 
a  small  river  (Codorus  creek)  runs  through  the  town. 
One  of  the  handsomest  bridges  I  ever  saw  is  thrown  over 
this  river  by  five  arches  ;  at  each  end  stand  two  handsome 
pillars,  with  entablatures,  but  no  engravings.  The  court- 
house is  a  noble  building,  and  will  be  long  remembered 
as  the  place  where  Congress  met  while  the  British  were 
in  possession  of  Philadelphia  (1777).  There  are  several 
meeting-houses  handsomely  built.  All  the  public  and 
many  of  the  private  buildings  are  of  brick.  Many  of  the 
private  houses  bespeak  the  owners  to  be  Dutch.  The 
forms  are  under  fine  cultivation  in  this  vicinity.  The 
barns,  in  the  old  Dutch  style,  are  stone ;  the  under  story 
all  stabling,  generally  about  sixty  feet  by  thirty ;  but  some 
are  eighty  and  some  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long. 
There  are  many  barns,  newly  built  of  brick  or  stone,  tliat 
are  very  handsome,  with  nothing  of  the  old  fashion  about 
them,  except  the  stabling,  which  I  think  is  on  the  most  ex- 
cellent plan  I  have  ever  seen. 

I  went  out  this  day  among  the  farmers  to  sell  cattle.  I 
took  the  canal  road  from  town  to  Mr.  Jones's  ;  he  was  not 
at  home.  He  has  an  excellent  farm.  A  fine  stream, 
beautifully  shaded  with  willows,  steals  silently  through 
very  extensive  meadows  clothed  in  the  richest  green.  A 
part  of  the  town  and  several  fine  seats  can  be  seen  from 
his  house.  The  town  is  remarkable  for  having  Lombardy 
poplars,  weeping  willows,  and  other  trees  in  all  the  streets, 
which  gives  it  a  rural  appearance,  and  prevents  a  full 
view  from  any  point. 

From  Mr.  Jones's  I  went  to  Mr.  Updegraft's.     He  was 


100  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

not  at  home,  but  two  young  ladies,  his  daughters,  gave 
me  a  polite  invitation  to  come  in  and  sit  down.  They 
were  Quakeresses  ;  their  manners  were  extremely  easy. 
There  is  something  in  the  manners  of  a  well-bred  Quak- 
eress that  is  very  interesting  and  attractive,  or,  perhaps, 
I  have  imbibed  a  partiality  that  makes  me  particularly 
admire  their  deportment.  A  simple,  modest  behavior  is 
undoubtedly  what  every  woman  ought  to  cultivate,  and 
attain  to,  if  possible. 

From  thence  I  went  to  Mr.  Rittle's,  He,  too,  was  ab- 
sent, but  his  wife,  a  proper  Dutch  woman,  told  me  she 
"  should  not  buys  no  catties  for  de  drout."  I  asked  the 
way  to  Mr.  Amit's.  She  told  me  to  "  go  the  road  till  I 
met  two  houses,  and  then  I  would  come  to  a  brick,  stone 
house  by  de  mills,  then  go  to  de  right,  and  then  to  de 
left  to  Amit's."  Well,  to  Amit's  I  went,  but  did  not  find 
him  at  home.  His  wife  and  family  were  at  dinner,  of 
which  they  invited  me  to  partake.  She  told  me  Mr. 
Amit  wanted  to  buy,  and  would  come  and  see  my  cattle. 
I  then  took  a  farther  circuit,  going  eight  or  nine  miles 
through  a  beautiful  country,  in  which  I  saw  nearly  twenty 
fine  farms. 

Saturday,  September  2.  Leave  Eichelberger's.  He 
wished  to  enter  into  partnership,  and  would  bring  out  a 
thousand  pairs  of  shoes  and  some  boots,  and  $1,000  in 
money,  next  summer  to  buy  cattle;  but  partnership  is  a 
bad  ship.  He  has  an  excellent  new  brick  house  and  good 
farm,  and  a  modest,  well  informed  wife. 

The  poor-house,  which  I  saw  this  day  at  York,  is  an 
honor  to  the  place.  I  judge  it  to  be  upward  of  a  hun- 
dred feet  in  length,  three  stories  below  the  roof,  four  chim- 
neys, and  a  very  pretty  cupola,  and  a  piazza  the  full  length 
of  the  building.  There  is  a  very  handsome  edifice  adja- 
cent, which,  I  suppose,  is  the  residence  of  the  overseer. 
It  is  finely  situated  by  the  side,  and  has  a  full  view  of  an 
extensive  meadow.  It  is  half  a  mile  from  any  road,  has  a 
neat,  well-kept  yard,  and  a  good  spring  of  water. 

It  rained  before  we  started  from  Eichelberger's ;  we  had 
a  very  rainy  afternoon,  and  got  very  wet.     Drove  about 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  101 

eight  miles  and  put  up  at  a  Dutch  tavern.     They  are  mak- 
in<^  a  turnpike  road  from  York  to  Lancastei;:;:  ako^t  two.   .  ;-' 
hundred  Irish  are  at  work   on  it,  several  "svitii  bhlck  eyes' 
and  bruised  faces.  \     ,y,  \     i  *,>''"'' i^' JN 

Sunday,  September  3.  If  ever  any  person  was  liomesicV, 
I  am.  I  can  not  see  the  end  of  my  journey  or  of  my  toils. 
When  I  came  here  yesterday,  I  hoped  to  be  ready  to  turn 
my  face  homeward  by  Monday,  but  am  still  disappointed. 

Our  fat  landlady  sits  in  her  shift  and  petticoat,  con- 
stantly on  her  piazza.  She  is  loquacious  enough,  but  I 
can  understand  her  with  difhculty  :  "  0  my  Got,"'  says 
she,  "  what  a  little  hand  !  You  don't  work  !  There !  " 
She  thrust  out  her  hand  toward  me,  "  dat's  more  big  dan 
two  of  dat,"  and  fell  into  a  loud  laugh.  I  thought  so  too — 
it  looked  as  hard  as  a  wood-chopper's,  and  as  black  as  a 
squaw's.  She  has  two  maids  to  assist  her,  and  the  house 
is  clean,  and  victuals  good.  The  man  appears  like  an 
honest,  fat  Dutchman,  and  has  an  excellent  farm. 

Yesterday,  a  man  overtook  and  rode  a  little  way  with 
us  who  could  talk  English.  I  could  almost  call  him 
brother.  He  was  well  informed  and  sociable.  He  soon 
craved  my  name,  and  in  an  obliging  manner  gave  me  all 
the  useful  information  he  could.  He  told  me  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Campbell,  the  church  minister  in  Carlisle,  mar- 
ried a  lady  by  the  name  of  Cutler,  in  England. 

The  Dutch  are  remarkable  for  having  selected  the  very 
best  lands.  They  are  sure  to  root  out  the  Irish.  There  is 
an  irreconcilable  aversion  between  these  people.  The 
Dutch  are  slow,  cold-hearted,  and  economical ;  the  Irish, 
warm  and  quick  in  their  feelings,  generous,  and  vain. 
How  can  such  materials  assimilate?  They  have  nothing 
alike,  and  there  is  no  adhesive  principle  to  cement  them; 
and,  of  course,  they  do  not  mix.  I  am  told  there  is 
scarcely  a  Dutchman  among  the  two  hundred  men  at 
work  on  the  turnpike,  although  this  road  is  enlfirely 
through  Dutch  settlements.  Both  these  people  look  up 
to  the  English,  who,  in  turn,  regard  them  as  inferiors. 
This  naturally  leads  the  English  to  habits  of  idleness  and 
dissipation,  the  consequences   of  which   are  much  to  be 


■<     5        II 
*     '      1  ,) 

>      i    )  1 


102  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

dreaded.  It  gives  me  pain  to  see  the  Dutcli  so  inattentive 
to  learning  snd  the  improvement  of  the  mind.  They  have 
'<  '<c  strong  judgment,  and  are  generally  moral  and  industrious, 
aijd  "■vhen  they  are  polished,  they  shine  equal  with  any — 
forlnstailcii,  the  two  Misses  Updegraff ! 

Monday,  September  4.  Bill,  $4.45.  Drove  three  miles 
to  the  Susquehanna  river,  and  ferried  the  cattle  over ;  hill, 
$2.  Then  drove  to  Henry  Miller's  farm,  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  ferry.  He  is  an  honest-looking  Dutchman. 
Rode  out  for  purchasers.    Prospect  dull. 

Tuesday,  September  5.  Sold  five  steers  to  Mr.  Miller. 
Met  a  Mr.  Spear,  who  huys  the  remainder  for  $700. 
Charles,  my  son,  left  me  ahout  one  o'clock,  on  his  return 
home. 

Wednesday,  September  6.  I  never  passed  a' more  restless 
night — never  shut  my  eyes  until  ahout  daylight.  Took 
'  my  horse,  and  rode  to  Lancaster,  eight  miles.  Lancaster 
is  a  very  handsome  town.  The  manners  of  the  people  are 
much  more  polished  than  at  York.  I  saw  hut  few  women 
in  the  streets  with  hare  feet ;  on  the  contrary,  at  York, 
and  at  all  the  little  towns  and  country-seats,  they  were 
harefooted  even  when  at  their  neighhors,  except  the  En- 
glish of  fortune,  and  some  few  who  copy  them. 

Thursday,  September  7.  Returned  from  Lancaster,  and 
arrived  at  Mr.  Spear's  ahout  two  o'clock.  He  had  started 
to  Lancaster  an  hour  before.  Spent  an  anxious  after- 
noon. 

Friday,  Sejytember  8.  Mr.  Spear  returned  in  the  even- 
ing, and  Mr.  Birnie,  a  gentleman  from  Philadelphia,  came 
with  him.  Mr.  Birnie  is  a  Scotchman,  well  informed,  and 
of  an  excellent  character.  He  is  a  commission  merchant. 
I  have  established  a  correspondence  with  him. 

Saturday,  September  9.  Several  of  Mr.  Spear's  neigh- 
bors were  here  to  breakfast,  after  which  Mr.  Spear,  Mr. 
Peyton,  and  I  went  to  Columbia,  and  came  back  by  Col- 
onel Strickler's.  Mr.  Spear  informs  me  he  has  negotiated 
at  the  bank  for  money,  but  it  could  not  be  obtained  until 
Monday. 

Sunday,  September  10.     A  long,  tiresome  day.    Mr.  Spear 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  103 

and  his  wife  go  to  meeting.  Mrs.  Spear  is  the  daughter 
of  Colonel  Strickler.  She  possesses  in  a  liigh  degree  the 
active  qualities  of  that  family.  She  is  industrious  and 
vigilant,  with  a  talent  to  command,  and  is  as  well  qualilled 
for  a  farmer's  wife  as  is  possible.  The  men  servants  ap- 
peared to  obey  with  promptness  and  respect.  She  is  also 
ver}'  courteous,  and  strives  to  make  every  thing  pleasing 
to  her  guests.  Mr.  Spear's  mother,  a  tine  old  lady,  lives 
with  liei'in  ffreat  harmonv, 

Monday,  September  11.  Mr.  Cutler,  having  closed  his 
business  with  Mr.  Spear,  set  out  on  horseback  to  return  to 
his  home,  where  he  arrived  late  in  September.  These 
journeys  were  not  without  danger,  as  well  as  fatigue.  The 
mountain  roads  were  often  infested  by  lawless  characters. 
Robberies,  and  sometimes  even  murders,  occurred.  On 
one  occasion,  when  stopped  by  a  highwayman,  he  owed 
his  safety  to  the  use  of  his  loaded  whip  and  the  sagacity 
and  iieetness  of  his  horse. 

In  1810,  Judo-e  Cutler  entered  into  an  aii-reement  with 
Colonel  William  Vause,  on  the  south  branch  of  the  Poto- 
mac, Hampshire  county,  Virginia,  that  he  would  purchase 
cattle  as  early  as  possible  in  the  spring,  and  send  theni  to 
the  Glades,  in  Alleghany  county,  Maryland,  where  Colonel 
Yause  was  to  provide  trusty  herdsmen  to  take  charge  of 
them  until  they  were  lit  lor  market,  when  he  was  to  dis- 
pose of  them,  refund  the  purchase-money,  deduct  the 
other  expenses,  and  divide  the  profit  or  loss  equally  be- 
tween them.  This  arrangement  continued  two  or  three 
years,  until  the  war'  with  Great  Britain  came  on,  wdiich, 
with  some  restrictions  as  to  right  of  pasturage,  brought 
the  business  to  a  close,  of  which  Colonel  Yause  writes, 
March  14,  1813 :  "  I  have  thought  it  advisable  not  to  en- 
gage in  the  stock  business  this  season.  There  are  several 
characters  in  Alleghany  county,  Maryland,  whose  infiu- 
ence  has  prevailed  on  the  legislature  of  that  state  to  enact 
a  law  prohibiting  us  Virginians  from  herding  stock  in  the 
Glades,  unless  under  certain  regulations,  which  are  not  in 
my  power  to  comply  with  this  spring." 


104  Life  of  Lphraim  Cutler. 

War  was  declared  with  Great  Britain  June  18,  1812. 
Judge  Cutler  went  over  the  mountains  in  September  of 
that  year,  and  writes  home  from  the  Glades :  "  I  have 
been  at  the  south  branch,  and  have  seen  my  friend  Vause. 
All  was  bustle  and  confusion  there,  on  account  of  the 
marehins;  of  the  militia.  Such  another  scene  I  never  wit- 
nessed  :  fathers,  mothers,  sisters,  and  wives,  all  in  tears, 
taking  leave  of  sons,  husbands,  or  brothers,  perhaps  to 
see  them  no  more — it  was  truly  distressing.  Colonel 
Vause  is  the  commander  of  the  regiment,  and  is  regarded 
as  a  father  and  friend  b}'  all.  I  never  saw  a  liner  set  of 
men  than  composed  one  company  commanded  by  Captain 
Heiskell,  of  Vause's  regiment — all  young,  handsome,  and 
active,  and  all  completely"  equipped  as  riflemen — Federal- 
ists and  Democrats — all  agreed,  and  harmoniously  vying 
with  each  other  who  should  do  his  country,  his  state,  or 
his  county  the  most  honor  by  a  decent  deportment  and  a 
neat,  soldier-like  appearance." 

A  few  weeks  later.  Colonel  Vause  writes  :  "  The  assem- 
bly of  Virginia  have  had  a  long  session,  owing  to  business 
of  importance  that  it  became  their  duty  to  act  upon  be- 
fore they  rose.  They  are  occupied  in  providing  for  the 
defense  of  our  eastern  frontier,  which  thev  consider  nes*- 
lected  by  the  general  government.  One  of  their  acts  is  to 
authorize  the  enlistment  of  one  thousand  men  for  during 
the  war,  to  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  state  only. 
There  is  no  prospect  of  a  speedy  peace,  and  no  probability 
that  the  war  will  be  prosecuted  with  any  degree  of  success. 
How  it  will  end,  God  only  knows ;  but  I  fear  it  will  be- 
come very  calamitous  and  expensive,  and  never  secure  the 
object  for  which  it  was  said  to  be  declared,  namely,  that 
of  vindicatino;  the  honor  of  the  nation." 

Some  extracts  from  other  letters  written  during  the  war 
show  how  it  was  regarded  in  dilFerent  parts  of  the  Union. 
Dr.  Cutler  writes  to  his  son,  March  23,  1813,  as  follows: 
"  The  account  you  have  given  me  of  the  treatment  of 
the  Indians  in  two  towns  you  have  mentioned,  and  the 
undisciplined  state  of  the  militia  which  made  so  large  a 
portion  of  General  Harrison's  army,  is  most  astonishing. 


Life  of  Epliraim  Cutler.  105 

The  people  who  have  treated  the  Indians  in  this  savage 
manner  have  dehased  themselves  below  the  savages.  I 
have  l»ng  been  satisiied  that  the  Indians  are  rarely,  if 
ever,  the  first  aggressors  in  their  wars  with  the  white  peo- 
ple. Very  little  is  to  be  expected  from  soldiers  who  are 
under  no  discipline,  and  this  was  probably  very  much  the 
case  with  General  IIulTs  army,  and  is  still  with  the  troops 
at  Plattsburg  and  near  Niagara.  Nor  will  it  ever  be 
much  otherwise,  until  there  is  a  commander-in-chief  wdio 
is  fit  for  the  station.  Heaven  has  remarkably  frowned 
upon  all  the  attempts  to  invade  Canada.  It  is,  however, 
no  more  than  we  might  expect  in  cai  rying  on  a  war  so 
unprovoked,  unnecessary,  and  abominably  unjust.  I  was 
sorry  to  find  your  son  was  one  of  the  conscripts.  I  hope 
you  will,  at  all  events,  provide  a  substitute. 

'".  .  .  In  this  quarter,  the  distresses  of  the  war  are 
most  sensibly  felt.  Commerce  has  almost  totally  ceased. 
Very  little  has  been  obtained  by  privateering.  Double 
the  amount  of  property  has  been  taken  in  the  ships  that 
have  been  captured  since  this  vile  business  commenced,  to 
what  has  been  brought  in  by  privateers." 

Mr.  Wright  Converse,  of  AVaterford,  Ohio,  emigrated 
to  Louisiana,  where,  in  1813,  he  volunteered,  and  served 
under  General  Claiborne  in  the  campaign  against  the 
Creek  Indians.  In  a  letter  to  his  old  friend.  Judge  Cutler, 
written  January  15,  1815,  he  gives  an  account  of  the  bat- 
tle of  New^  Orleans,  fought  on  the  8th  of  that  month : 

"  From  long  acquaintance,  and  the  friendship  I  have  re- 
ceived from  yourself  and  family,  I  take  the  liberty  to 
address  you.  No  doubt  you  will  be  interested  to  hear 
that  the  Ens'lish  landed  on  the  23d  of  December  with  about 
7,000  troops,  and  marched  for  New  Orleans.  General 
Jackson  met  them  eight  miles  from  the  city  with  a  su- 
perior force,  and  a  battle  commenced.  After  fighting 
about  two  hours  we  got  the  better  of  the  enemy  ;  our 
loss  was  considerable,  and  the  enemy  lost  a  much  greater 
number. 

'•Both  armies  entrenched  within  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  of  each  other,  aud  have  kept  up  a  continual  skir- 


106  Life  of  Ephraiyn   Cutler. 

mishing  since.  They  made  two  formal  charges  on  our 
works,  for  which  they  paid  dear — the  first  time  they  lost 
500  men.  Last  Sunday  morning,  about  an  hour  before 
daylight,  they  moved  out  their,  whole  force  and  made  a 
bold  charge.  Our  brave  men  met  them,  and  both  fought 
for  two  hours,  when  the  enemy  was  glad  to  retreat.  They 
must  have  lost  about  2,000  killed  and  taken  prisoners. 
Our  loss  was  but  trifling — six  killed  and  thirteen  wounded. 
Our  large  cannon  would  open  their  ranks,  and  on  all 
quarters  the  slaughter  was  considerable.  The  militia  have 
been  ordered  out  en  masse,  and  are  continually  passing  on 
to  Orleans.  General  Jackson  has  about  16,000  men  fit  for 
the  field,  therefore  we  have  nothino-  to  fear,  although  we 
have  several  points  to  guard. 

"  The  English  will  rue  the  day  they  landed  in  Louisiana. 
Thev  did  not  meet  General  Winder,  Ijut  General  Jackson, 
who  will  give  them  the  plunder  they  came  for  I  If  men 
have  the  least  ambition,  Jackson  will  make  soldiers  of 
them.  I  am  of  opinion  it  w^oulcl  be  better  for  the  State 
of  Ohio  to  send  Generals  Cass  and  McArthur,  and  some 
others,  to  Jackson ;  he  would  mix  them  with  his  men,  and 
no  doubt  if  they  improved  he  would  make  subalterns  of 
them.  He  has  adopted  a  simple  plan — that  is,  to  make  a 
soldier  an  oflicer ;  if  officers  are  not  soldiers,  he  lets  them 
go  home. 

"Four  frigates  lightened  at  the  Balise  came  up  to  Fort 
Plaquemine  and  commenced  an  attack,  and  the  fort 
fought  them  manfull}'.  From  the  best  information,  we 
believe  that  two  ships  were  sunk,  and  one  blow^n  up;  our 
loss  in  the  forts  but  small. 

"  On  Wednesday  last,  General  Jackson  and  General 
Lambert  exchanged  prisoners,  and  on  Thursday  morning, 
there  was  not  an  Ensrlish  soldier  to  be  found  in  their 
works  ;  therefore  are  all  drawn  oft".  What  attack  they 
will  make  next  is  uncertain." 

The  battle  of  IsTew  Orleans  closed  the  liostilities  of  the 
war  of  1812  soon  after  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent.  Mr.  John  Heard,  a  proprietor  in  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany, writes  :     "  I  presume  the  two  shares  I  own  may  be- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  107 

come  rather  more  valuable,  as  by  the  haiul  of  a  kind 
Providence  pe'ace  is  restored,  and  we  liave  abundant  I'ca- 
son  to  be  thankful ;  but  have  no  cause  to  give  the  least 
credit  to  those  rulers  who  have  made  this  unjust  and  ruin- 
ous war.  It  is  astonishing  to  find  that  not  a  single  article 
in  the  treaty  secures  the  objects  for  which  the  war  was  de- 
clared— to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council ;  to  re- 
move the  illegal  blockades;  to  prevent  the  impressment 
of  seamen ;  and  other  complaints.  We  find  not  one  of 
these  objects  obtained  by  the  war,  or  even  so  much  as 
named  by  the  treaty  I  But  I  forbear,  the  subject  is 
painful." 

The  little  community  of  Warren,  however,  without 
gainsaying,  on  the  night  after  the  welcome  news  of  peace 
was  received,  assembled  at  Judge  Cutler's  residence  to  ex- 
press their  unfeigned  gladness.  An  old  pioneer  states  that 
"  The  house  was  brilliantly  illuminated,  the  word  PEACE 
shining  from  the  upper  window^s,  and  the  judge  came  out 
upon  the  door-steps  and  made  us  a  capital  speech,  to 
which  we  responded  with  hearty  cheers,  and  patriotic 
songs,  and  the  discharge  of  our  guns,  after  which  we  were 
invited  into  the  house  to  partake  of  a  bountiful  repast 
spread  in  the  long  hall,  to  which  we  did  ample  justice." 


108  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Earthquakes — Flood   op  1813— Legislature  1819-20 — 
School  Commissioners. 

A  series  of  earthquakes,  considered  remarkable  by 
scientists,  occurred  during  the  winter  of  1811-12,  which 
were  particularly  severe  in  the  Western  States.  Of  these 
Judge  Cutler,  in  a  letter  dated  Warren,  February  19, 
1812,  writes  thus  to  his  father  : 

"  In  giving  you  some  account  of  the  late  earthquakes, 
I  will  confine  myself  to  the  phenomena  as  they  appeared 
at  my  house,  or  as  I  personally  felt  them  when  from  home, 
presuming  you  have  seen  descriptions  in  the  public  papers 
from  other  parts  of  the  country. 

"  The  first  shock  was  at  half  past  two  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  16th  of  December.  When  I  awoke  the 
bed  appeared  to  have  a  vibratory  motion,  and  the  floors 
and  joists  made  a  noise  much  like  a  frame  house  in  a 
violent  wind;  as  our  house  is  stone,  and  we  never  per- 
ceive the  least  motion  in  the  hardest  winds,  we  were  of 
course  alarmed.  Mrs.  Cutler  immediately  said,  '  It  must 
be  an  earthquake,'  but  I  tried  to  assign  some  other  cause 
in  order  to  quiet  her  fears.  This  shock  lasted  at  least  five 
minutes,  I  think  it  was  ten  minutes  before  the  house 
ceased  to  shake.  About  sunrise  we  felt  another  shock. 
Again  about  eight  o'clock  the  house  began  gradually  to 
shake,  and  was  not  entirely  still  until  forty-five  minutes, 
after  eight.  The  hardest  shock  was  five  minutes  after  it 
commenced,  when  it  gradually  subsided,  and  then  in- 
creased, so  as  to  give  in  this  time  three  shocks.  In  the 
course  of  this  day  (the  IGth)  we  felt  ten  distinct  shocks, 
and  one  the  following  night. 

"  The  next  day,  which  was  the  17th,  we  had  one  shock, 
and  one  on  the  succeeding  night.     On  the  18th  there  was 


Life  of  Ephraim    Cutler.  109 

another  not  noticed  by  our  neighbors,  nor  would  it  have 
been  by  the  family,  if  Charles  had  not  been  with  a  man 
on  the  roof  of  the  house  in  the  act  of  laying  brick  to  top 
out  one  of  the  chimneys.  The  chimney  vibrated  three  or 
four  inches.  They  came  down  and  informed  me.  I  found 
the  house  was  in  a  tremulous  motion,  which  continued 
about  one  minute. 

"  On  the  23d  of  January  this  region  was  visited  by  a 
second  remarkable  shock.  I  was  on  a  journey  to  Zanes- 
ville  and  did  not  perceive  it,  but  my  family  state  that  ij 
was  preceded  by  a  roaring  noise,  which  passed  up  the 
river  from  S.  W.  to  N.  E.  This  shock  was  not  so  severely 
felt  at  our  house  as  the  first.  On  the  3d  of  February  I 
was  at  Zanesville  in  the  senate  chamber  about  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  the  court-house,  in  which  we  were, 
shook  to  that  degree  that  nearly  all  the  people,  perhaps  three 
hundred,  rushed  out.  I  felt  a  giddiness  and  nausea,  which 
I  found  was  the  case  with  many  others.  The  spire  of  the 
court-house,  when  I  got  out  to  see  it,  vibrated  at  least 
twelve  inches,  and  it  was  said  by  those  who  saw  it  at  the 
hardest  that  the  vibration  had  been  much  greater.  On 
the  7th  instant,  at  three-quarters  past  three  in  the  morn- 
ing, we  had  a  shock  more  severe  than  any  before  experi- 
enced, I  was  at  Waterford  in  bed  with  Mr.  Benjamin  I. 
Gilman,  and  was  awake  at  its  commencement.  When  the 
bed  began  to  shake,  I  supposed  Mr.  Gilman  had  made 
some  movement,  but  soon  found  he  was  asleep.  The  mo- 
tion increased ;  he  awoke  before  the  hardest  shock,  which 
appeared  more  like  a  sudden  jerk  than  any  I  have  felt. 
It  lasted  four  or  five  minutes  at  Waterford,  but  was  longer 
and  more  severe  at  my  house.  The  motion  was  not  un- 
like that  of  a  sieve  in  the  act  of  sifting  meal.  I  believe 
there  was  considerable  difference  in  the  motion  of  the 
several  shocks.  In  fhe  first  it  appeared  to  be  under  the 
bed  in  which  I  lay,  but  in  the  last  I  have  mentioned  it 
was  more  as  if  some  person  had  taken  hold  of  the  bed- 
stead and  shaken  it  back  and  forth.  A  number  of  other 
shocks  have  since  occurred,  some  of  them  nearly,  if  not 


110  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

quite,  as  severe  as  the  first.  We  have  not  kept  a  par- 
ticular account  of  all,  but  they  exceed  twenty." 

For  about  three  months  the  earth  appeared  to  be  in  a 
continual  tremor.  The  center  of  the  disturbance  was  New 
Madrid,  in  south-east  Missouri,  where  the  vertical  and 
horizontal  motion  was  noted  as  it  was  here.  For  hundreds 
of  miles  along  the  Mississippi,  "  the  land  rose  and  fell  in 
great  undulations,  and  lakes  were  formed  and  again 
drained."  Near  New  Madrid  the  earth  burst  open  in 
many  places,  engulfing  trees,  rocks,  or  whatever  was  on 
the  surface,  and  from  these  chasms  mud  and  water  were 
thrown  high  into  the  air,  and,  finally,  a  district  seventy  or 
eighty  miles  in  length  and  thirty  in  breadth,  along  the 
White  river,  sank  below  its  original  level,  and  is  still 
known  as  "The  Sunk  Countrv."  Caracas,  in  South 
America,  with  12,000  people,  was  destroyed,  March  26, 
1812,  by  an  earthquake,  after  which  they  ceased  here. 

The  first  great  flood  in  this  region  after  the  settlement 
of  the  colony  at  Marietta  was  in  January,  1813.  A 
writer  in  1755  said :  "  The  Ohio  river,  as  the  winter  snows 
are  thawed  by  warmth  or  rains  in  the  spring,  rises  in 
vast  floods,  in  some  places  exceeding  twenty  feet  in  height, 
but  scarce  anywhere  overflowing  its  high  and  upright 
banks,"  and  Mr.  Thomas  Hutchins,  afterward  geographer 
of  the  United  States,  by  whgse  advice  the  Ohio  Company 
located  their  purchase,  states  in  a  book  published  in  Lon- 
don, in  1778,  that  "  The  Muskingum  is  a  fine,  gentle  river, 
confined  by  high  banks,  which  prevent  its  floods  from  over- 
flowing the  surrounding  lands."  The  experience  of  the 
settlers  on  the  borders  of  these  rivers,  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  seemed  to  confirm  these  statements  ;  for,  although 
they  were  often  at  full  banks,  and  occasionally  a  little  out 
of  banks  on  the  low  bottom  lands,  no  general  inundation 
of  the  valleys  had  occurred.  There  had  been  partial 
freshets  in  February,  1789,  and  again  in  December,  1808, 
but  no  serious  inconvenience  resulted,  and  homes  were 
planted  near  the  river  with  no  apprehension  that  they 
would  be  invaded  by  the   floods.     The  first  troublesome 


Life  of  Uphraim  Cutler.  Ill 

high  water  at  the   Cutler  lioniestead  is  noticed  in   an  old 
account-book. 

'■'■January  24,  1813.     Began  to  rain,  and  the  Ohio  to  rise. 
On  the  25th  the  river  rose  more  than  was  ever  observed  in 
the  same  time — at  iirst,  said  to  have  been  six  feet  in  one 
hour.     Early  on  the  morning  of  the  26th,  the  rain,  which 
had  not  been  heavy,  ceased,  and  the  ground  was  covered 
with  snow.     The  water  that  evening  was  as  high  as  the 
freshet  of  December,  1808.     The  rise  was  rapid  beyond 
any  before  known — so  sudden  as  to  prevent  us  from  get- 
ting our  stock  oft' to  a  place  of  safety.     AVe  drove  the  cat- 
tle to  the  hill  earl}'  in  the  morning,  but   had  to  carry  our 
sheep   off"  in   a  boat  about  noon,   and  ferried  the  horses 
over  in  Mr.  Cole's  flat  that  evening.     We  got  the  hogs 
into  the  house,  in  the  course   of  the  night,  except  eight 
or  ten  that  were  drowned.     We  also  lost  two  sheep  and 
two  calves;  one  was  drowned,  and  the  others  perished  in 
consequence  of  the  cold  and  snow.     On  the  27th  the  fam- 
ily moved  up  stiiirs.     The  water  still  continued  rising,  but 
not  so  rapidly.     About  six  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
28th  the  river  came  to  a  stand,  when  it  was  five  and  a 
quarter  inches  on    our  lower  floor,   and  about  four  feet 
higher  than  ever  before    known  since  the  settlement  of 
Marietta.      On    the    evening  of    the  28th  the   water   de- 
scended from  the  floors,  and  we  were  able  to  build  fires 
below.      If    the    cold  had  not  set    in,    no  doubt   the  rise 
would  have  been  much  greater.     The  river  was  low  for 
the  season  of  the  year  when  the  freshet  commenced,  and 
one  remarkable   circumstance  was  its  rapid  progress  un- 
attended by  any  extraordinary  fall  of  rain." 

The  flood  of  1813  has  been  called  the  "  Ice  Flood," 
from  the  fact  that  the  river  was  crowded  for  a  day  or  two 
with  heavy  blocks  of  floating  ice,  and  when  the  temper- 
ature fell  the  back-water  froze  to  tlfe  thickness  of  two  or 
three  inches.  The  discomfort  and  loss  of  property  occa- 
sioned by  the  flood  in  the  Ohio  Valley  was  very  consider- 
able, but  not  to  be  compared  with  the  more  recent  and 
much  higher  floods  of  1832  and  1884. 

Occupied  with   his  own  aft'airs,  and  surrounded  by  his 


112  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

family,  with  no  public  duties  to  perform,  except  those  of 
justice  of  the  peace,  the  years  passed  quietly  with  Judge 
Cutler  until  1819,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  house  of 
representatives  in  the  Ohio  legislature. 

He  has  left  no  detailed  account  of  his  services  in  the 
legislature.  What  these  were,  and  the  circumstances  in 
which  they  were  rendered,  can  now  only  be  gathered  from 
the  legislative  journals,  his  own  occasional  notes,  and  let- 
ters written  at  the  time. 

It  is  not  unfrequently  the  case  that  important  services 
have  been  rendered  to  communities,  and  to  the  state  by 
agents  who  have  disappeared  from  public  notice  so  nearly 
contemporaneously  with  the  accomplishment  of  their  pur- 
poses that  no  personal  credit  has  ever  followed  or  been  at- 
tached to  their  actions.  This  has  not  arisen  from  ingrati- 
tude, or  an  unwillingness  to  accord  due  honors  to  faithful 
servants,  but  rather  from  the  fact  that  the  progress  of 
events  is  so  rapid  in  a  community  where  all  are  strug- 
gling forward  that  to-day  displaces  yesterday,  while  to- 
morrow speedily  obliterates  both,  or  casts  them  into  the 
shades  of  forgetful  ness. 

For  a  public  man  to  receive  even  his  just  award  of 
merit,  his  name  must  be  kept  so  constantly  before  the 
world  that  it  will  become  almost  a  household  word,  and 
must  be  connected  with  positive  acts  of  value  and  import- 
ance. This  is  an  unwelcome  condition  to  be  imposed 
upon  a  man  of  genuine  modesty  and  true  sensibility,  and 
is  so  often  neglected  by  himself  and  his  friends  that  his 
services,  however  meritorious,  sink  out  of  sight  and  are 
soon  forgotten,  or  are  accorded  to  some  more  noisy  builder 
upon  other  men's  foundations.  It  is  also  true  that  some 
of  the  most  influential  and  beneficial  agencies,  especially 
in  laying  the  foundations  of  civil  society  and  social  pro- 
gress, have  been  so  quiet  in  their  labors  that  very  few, 
even  of  their  cotemporaries,  could,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  have  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  facts  to  secure  their 
publication  to  the  world. 

An  illustration  of  the  popular  tendency  to  forget  the 
services  of  faithful  public  servants  may  be  found  in  Judge 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  113 

Cutler's  case.  lie  was  called  into  legislative  service  from 
1819  to  1825.  During  this  time  he  undertook  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  two  of  the  most  important  systems  of  pub- 
lic policy  that  were  ever  adopted  by  the  State  of  Ohio. 
One  of  them  was  that  relating  to  common  schools ;  the 
other,  an  ad  valorem  or  equal  systeui  of  taxation.  His 
persistent  labors  in  securing  their  adoption  will  appear  in 
the  following  pages.  But  the  tide  of  popular  favor  car- 
ried more  energetic  aspirants  into  office,  while  he  adhered 
rigidly  to  a  j^rinciple  of  personal  restraint  "  never  to  seek 
office,"  and  was  retired  from  political  position  at  a  time 
when  he  had  acquired  an  eminence  in  the  state,  surpassed 
by  few  of  his  associates. 

.Judge  Cutler,  in  his  notes,  written  several  years  before 
his  death,  refers  to  these  eifbrts  :  "  I  was  elected  to  the  leg- 
islature'for  several  terms,  and  was  employed  as  one  of  a 
committee  to  prepare  a  school  system,  but  in  1819-20  only 
obtained  its  passage  through  the  house.  It  did  not  pass 
in  the  senate.  I  also  attempted,  during  the  same  session, 
the  introduction  of  a  system  of  taxation,  which  met  with 
no  favor  until  1824;  during  that  winter,  I  persevered  and 
prepared  bills  for  an  equal  system,  and,  in  the  memorable 
year  1825,  had  the  pleasure  to  see  them  pass  both  houses 
by  large  majorities.  My  mind  was  greatly  occupied  by 
this  matter  until  it  was  accomplished.  I  had  very  little 
encouragement  for  some  time.  I  remember,  however,  that 
Mr.  Henry  Clay,  whom  I  met  in  Columbus,  on  hearing  me 
explain  my  plan,  highly  approved  it.  The  session  ending 
in  February,  1825,  produced  this  system,  the  school  law, 
and  the  system  of  internal  improvements." 

Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler*  was  the  author  of  that  clause 
in  the  "  Ordinance  of  1787,"  which  declares  that  "  religion, 
morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  govern- 
ment and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools,  and  the 
means  of  education,  shall  forever  be  encouraged."     And 


*See  North  American  Review,  for  April,  1876.     Article,  "  Tlie  Ordi- 
niince  of  1787,  and  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,"  by  W.  F.  Poole. 
8 


114  Life  of  EpliraiwL   Cutler. 

this  was  one  of  the  conditions  upon  which  he  negotiated 
with  congress  for  the  purchase  of  the  Ohio  Company's 
lands. 

It  was  at  the  instance  of  his  son,  Ephraini  Cutler,  when 
a  member  of  the  convention  that  formed  the  constitution 
of  Ohio,  in  1802,  that  the  same  clause,  substantially,  was 
incorporated  into  the  organic  law  of  the  state.  Judge 
Cutler  was,  in  politics,  "an  old  Federalist,"  consequently, 
after  the  admission  of  the  state,  he  was  retired  from  all 
active  political  service,  but  he  never  lost  sight  of  the 
grand  idea  that  "religion,  morality,  and  knowledge"  were 
the  organic  principles  of  the  state.  lie  believed  that  the 
constitutional  ^irovision  not  merely  authorized  the  legisla- 
ture to  act,  but  that  it  was  mandatory;  and  imposed  an 
obligation  upon  the  legislature  of  the  state  to  encourage 
schools,  and  that  neglect  to  do  so  was  a  violation  of  that 
instrument. 

Accordingly,  on  his  return  to  public  life  as  a  member 
of  the  house  of  representatives,  in  1819,  he  writes:  "The 
party  heat  had  become  much  cooler  than  what  had  pre- 
vailed since  1808,  and  no  party  measures  were  agitated. 
I  moved  to  have  a  committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  sys- 
tem to  regulate  common  schools.  I  was  chairman  of  that 
committee,  and  prepared,  a  bill  providing  to  have  the 
townships  divided  into  districts,  school  houses  to  be  built, 
money  for  that  purpose  to  be  raised  by  a  tax  on  the  prop- 
erty WMthin  the  district,  and  jjart  of  the  pay  of  the  teacher 
to  be  paid  fi'om  the  public  funds.  It  passed  the  house, 
but  the  senate  did  not  act  upon  it,  and  it  died  at  the  end 
of  the  session." 

In  reference  to  his  effort  to  originate,  at  that  time,  an 
eiRcient  school  system  for  Ohio,  it  may  be  added  that 
Henry  Stoddard,  Esq.  (who  was  a  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture of  1819-20),  stated  in  conversation,  in  1853,  tliat  he 
had  in  his  possession  a  copy  of  the  original  bill  introduced 
by  Mr.  Cutler  in  1819.  A  request  was  made  that  he  would 
commit  this  relic  to  a  son  of  Judge  Cutler.  In  response, 
he  writes  to  W.  P.  Cutler,  under  date  of  Dayton,  January 
5,  1854:    "It  will  aftbrd  me  great  pleasure  to  furnish  you 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  115 

the  bill,  as  introduced  into  the  legislature  at  the  session  of 
1819-20,  which  was  the  basis  of  the  statute  passed  at  that 
session  regulating  common  schools,  and  although  very  de- 
fective for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  introduced,  yet  it 
is  the  foundation  of  the  system  which  is  now  the  pride 
and  glory  of  our  state;  and  /  know  that  no  man  in  the 
legislature  so  essentially  contributed  to  its  final  passage  as 
your  father." 

Up  to  1819,  the  legislation  respecting  schools  had  been 
of  a  local  nature,  and  nothing  had  been  done  to  establish 
a  system  of  common  schools  for  the  whole  state.  Al- 
though provision  had  been  made  by  congress  in  land 
laws,  and  in  the  sale  of  lands,  for  the  application  of  sec- 
tion 16  in  each  surveyed  township  for  school  purposes, 
yet  even  that  aid  was  allowed  to  remain  almost  useless  for 
want  of  system  in  its  management.  The  injunction  upon 
the  legislative  authority  "  to  encourage  schools  and  the 
means  of  education"  had  been  unheeded;  and  it  was 
natural  that  he  should  improve  the  first  opportunity 
which  ofiered  to  give  activity  and  efliciency  to  a  principle 
which  he  might  claim  as  an  inheritance  from  his  father, 
and  which  his  own  efforts  had  made  fundamental  in 
Ohio. 

At  this  day,  when  our  common-school  system  is  uni- 
versally popular,  the  earnestness  with  which  he  followed 
up  this  favorite  measure,  and  the  anxiety  with  which  he 
nursed  it,  can  scarcely  be  appreciated.  Then  the  subject 
was  met  not  only  by  an  indifference  which  had  allowed 
one  generation  of  youth  to  pass  away  unprovided  with 
schools,  since  the  organic  command  to  the  state  had  been 
issued  "  to  encourage  schools  and  the  means  of  educa- 
tion," but  by  a  determined  hostility  which,  based  upon 
the  plea  that  "  every  man  should  educate  his  own  chil- 
dren," was  active  and  influential  all  over  the  state.  The 
imperfect  law  of  1825  cost  far  more  labor  than  the  subse- 
quent acts  based  upon  and  supported  by  an  advanced  pub- 
lic sentiment. 

Of  the  session  of  1819-20,  he  writes:  "I  also  offered  a 
resolution  on  the  subject  of  taxation,  declaring  that  it  was 


116  Life  of  Ei^hraim  Cutler. 

necessary  to  pass  a  law  that  property  should  be  taxed  ac- 
cording to  its  value.  It  was  a  joint  resolution ;  it  passed 
the  house,  but  did  not  pass  the  senate." 

In  a  country  so  new,  and  with  so  limited  a  development 
of  its  native  resources,  as  was  the  case  in  Ohio  prior  to 
1825,  the  field  for  the  tax-gatherer  was  not  inviting. 
Land  was,  in  itself,  the  principal  wealth,  as  well  as  the 
source  from  which  all  else  was  derived.  It  therefore  be- 
came, from  the  first,  the  main  dependence  for  taxes. 

The  system  adopted  for  levying  taxes  upon  lands  was  to 
separate  them  into  three  classes  or  rates.  Listers  were  ap- 
pointed, who  entered  all  lands  under  first,  second,  and 
third  rates,  according  to  their  judgment  of  quality;  that 
is,  all  of  the  first  rate  at  two  dollars,  of  the  second  rate 
at  one  dollar  fifty  cents,  and  of  the  third  at  one  dollar  per 
acre ;  and  all  lands  under  each  rate  paid  the  same  tax  per 
acre.  The  principle  of  ad  valorem  found  no  place  in  the 
legislation  of  Ohio  before  1825,  excepting  in  regard  to  lots 
and  dwellings  in  towns. 

The  operation  of  this  rate  system  became  exceedingly 
unequal  and  unjust,  as  between  different  sections  of  the 
state.  The  burden  of  taxation  fell  heavily  upon  such 
counties  as  Washington,  Meigs,  Athens,  and  Gallia,  while 
the  more  wealthy  portions  of  the  state,  in  the  Miami  and 
Scioto  Valleys,  escaped. 

As  long  as  the  financial  wants  of  the  state  were  con- 
fined to  the  necessary  expenditures  for  its  own  govern- 
ment, the  subject  does  not  appear  to  have  received  much 
attention.  But  the  imposition  by  the  general  government, 
in  1813,  of  a  direct  war  tax  of  $3,000,000,  of  which  the 
proportion  of  Ohio  was  $103,000,  seems  to  have  excited 
an  earnest  inquiry  into  the  subject  of  equality  of  taxation. 
This  direct  tax  was  assumed  by  the  state,  and  money  was 
borrowed,  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  pay  it,  thus  saving  fifteen 
per  cent.  Afterward  the  tax  was  collected  from  the  peo- 
ple under  the  old  rate  system  on  lands. 

This  burden  of  a  war  tax  Avas  soon  followed  by  the 
project  of  the  Ohio  and  Erie  Canal.  The  canal  system 
found  advocates  in  the  fertile  interior  valleys  of  the  Scioto 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  117 

and  Miami,  because  tlieir  wants  and  necessities  dictated 
that  policy;  and  it  was  manifest,  from  the  topography  of 
the  country,  that  any  improvement  of  tliat  nature  must, 
necessarily,  be  located  within  their  borders;  while  in  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  state,  from  the  nature  of  the  sur- 
face, such  a  work  would  be  impracticable.  But  while  the 
canal  policy  had  acquired  such  support  from  the  more 
wealthy  and  influential  parts  of  the  state  that  its  ultimate 
success  \^as  assured,  the  eastern  portion  was  laboring  un- 
der a  most  unequal  and  burdensome  system  of  taxation. 
The  canal  scheme  was  gaining  in  popular  favor,  its  friends, 
intent  only  on  the  result,  gave  little  heed  to  the  sources  of 
state  credit. 

Such  were  the  circumstances  in  which  Judge  Cutler 
took  up  the  ad  oalorem  system,  really,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  State  of  Ohio.  He  managed  to  keep  the  law  "  estab- 
lishing an  equitable  mode  of  levying  the  taxes  of  this 
state  "  in  the  advance,  and  to  secure  its  adoption  by  the 
legislature,  and  then  withdrew  his  opposition  to  the 
canal. 

The  evidence  of  his  labors  for  the  improvement  of 
schools,  and  of  the  revenue  of  the  state,  is  not  mainly 
found  in  legislative  journals  (although  they  contain  cor- 
roborative proof),  from  the  fact  that  they  were  kept  in  a 
very  loose  manner,  and  debates  were  not  reported.  The 
letters  of  gentlemen,  written  at  the  time  when  both  these 
questions  were  fresh  and  well  understood,  afford  the  best 
insight  to  the  actual  status  of  these  subjects  at  that  time, 
and  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome.  His  own  letters  to 
Mrs.  Cutler,  during  his  attendance  on  the  legislature, 
show  his  direct  and  influential  agency  in  relation  to  them. 
These  also  introduce  to  us  some  of  his  associates,  and  pre- 
sent a  view  of  the  various  subjects  which,  at  that  early 
day,  occupied  the  attention  of  our  legislators. 

As  before  stated,  in  the  autumn  of  1819,  Judge  Cutler 
was  elected  to  represent  the  counties  of  Washington  and 
Athens  in  the  general  assembly.  He  writes  to  Mrs.  Cut- 
ler from  Columbus,  December  7,  1819:  "I  arrived  here 
safely  on  the  5th  inst.     Several  friends  called  on  me,  and 


118  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

gave  me  a  welcome  I  did  not  expect.  Col.  Lord  came, 
and  most  cordially  invited  me  to  board  with  him,  which  I 
gladly  accepted.  I  am,  according!}^,  at  his  liouse,  which  is 
very  pleasantly  situated,  and  have  a  room,  elegantly  fur- 
nished, entirely  to  myself.  Col.  Lord  is  a  friend  on  whom 
I  can  rely.  Mrs.  Lord  is  a  pleasant,  well-bred  woman, 
wdio  does  every  thing  with  pleasing  politeness,  neither  ful- 
some nor  affected ;  the  family  is  small,  and  very  agreeable ; 
and  what  company  I  have  seen  are  of  the  first  respecta- 
bility. No  other  person  boards  with  me,  l)ut  there  are 
fifty  members  within  a  few  steps,  so  that  I  have  the  benefit 
of  retirement  in  the  midst  of  bustle  and  noise. 

"Yesterday  the  house  and  senate  were  organized,  the 
several  oflicers  elected  and  sworn — Joseph  Richardson, 
speaker  of  the  house,  and  Allen  Trimble,*  speaker  of  the 
senate.  This  day  at  12  o'clock  the  message  of  the  gov- 
ernor (Ethan  Allen  Brown  f )  was  received  and  read.  The 
business  of  the  house  has  not  yet  assumed  an  interesting 
shape." 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  December  22,  1819 :  "  I  find  a  number 
of  very  valuable  men  members  of  this  body,  and  there  is 
ground  to  hope  that  some  important  improvements  in  our 
system  of  laws  will  be  effected,  but  business  progresses 
slowly.  jSTothing  of  a  public  nature  has  yet  been  accom- 
plished; of  private  and  local  matters  more  has  been 
done. 


*  Allen  Trimble,  born  in  Augusta  county,  Virginia,  November  24, 
1783.  A  politician  and  lawyer.  Settled  in  Highland  county,  Ohio. 
Commanded  a  mounted  regiment  in  the  war  of  1812.  Member  of  leg- 
islature 1816-26,  and  most  of  that  time  speaker  of  the  senate.  Acting 
governor  in  1821-2,  and  governor  of  Ohio  in  1826-30.  He  was  a  friend 
and  promoter  of  common  schooLs,  agriculture,  and  manufactures.  He 
died  at  Hillsborough,  Ohio,  February  2,  1870, 

f  Ethan  Allen  Brown,  born  at  Darien,  Connecticut,  July  4,  1776.  He 
read  law  in  the  office  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1802;  settled  in  Cincinnati  in  1804  He  was  judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Ohio  from  1810  to  1818;  governor  from  1818  to  1822; 
United  States  senator,  1822  to  1825;  canal  commissioner,  1825  to  1830; 
United  States  minister  to  Brazil  from  1830  to  1834;  commissioner  of 
general  land  office,  1835.  Removed  to  Indiana,  1836;  died  at  Indian- 
apolis February  24,  1852. 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  Ill) 

"  Mr.  Stoddard,  a  member  of  the  house,  hoards  near 
me;  he  is  one  of  the  most  agreeable  men  I  have  found 
here.  He  and  Mr.  Jennings,  of  St.  Clairsville,  who  are 
both  lawyers,  spend  much  of  their  time  with  me  ;  Col. 
Lord  also  spends  a  part  of  every  evening.  I  generally  sit 
up  till  about  midnight,  employed  in  drawing  up  reports  of 
committees,  preparing  bills,  writing  letters,  or  in  reading. 

"  Gen.  H came  here  with  the  expectation  of  leading 

or,  rather,  directing  all  public  affairs.  He  got  up  a  set  of 
resolutions  instructing  our  senators  and  representatives  in 
congress  to  raise  the  tariff  on  goods  made  in  foreign  coun- 
tries, so  as  to  encourage  the  establishment  of  all  such 
manufactures  in  our  own ;  and  also  not  to  pay  the  public 
debt,  but  apply  the  funds  to  making  roads  and  canals.  In 
the  senate,  of  which  he  is  a  member,  it  passed  unani- 
mously. When  it  came  before  the  house  I  could  not  re- 
frain from  saying,  I  thought  it  indelicate  and  impropev, 
on  our  part,  to  undertake  to  instruct  men  who  had  been 
selected  by  our  constituents  to  act  in  those  affairs,  and 
were  provided  with  every  aid  to  form  a  correct  judgment, 
who  had  been  recently  elected,  and  had  given  no  cause  lor 
jealousy.  It  would  render  us  deservedly  ridiculous  in  the 
eyes  of  men  of  common  sense  and  information.  Very  un- 
expectedly, I  found  that  the  house  went  with  me  in  solid 
phalanx.  I  send  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  as  versified 
by  Gardner  : 

"  'Ii'r'solve(/,  By  the  senate,  ihat  all  the  distress 
Which  our  constituents  so  sorelj'  0])))rpss 
Is  caused  by  the  want  of  a  proper  selection 
Of  means  to  give  home  manufactures  protection, 
That  wise  and  good  policy  loudly  requires. 
And  love  of  our  country  most  warmly  inspires, 
That  wc  should  do  sometliiiig,  yes,  all  that  we  can, 
And  join  in  the  struggle,  as  if  by  one  man. 
To  keep  manufactures  free  from  the  sheriff; 
And  this  must  be  done  l>y  augmenting  the  tariff. 

'"Resolved,  That  this  senate  sincerely  regiets 
The  nation's  so  free  in  discharging  her  debts. 
That  we  think  it  unwise,  and  impolitic  too, 
To  pay  out  a  cent  more  than  just  what  is  due: 


120  Life  of  JEphraim  Cutler. 

And  if  any  cash  more  than  strict  justice  calls 
Should  be  left  to  make  roads  or  to  open  canals. 
We  advise  that  the  government  open  a  sluice 
Through  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  (according  to  Foos), 
And  we'll  get  silks  and  tea  for  our  pork  and  corn 
By  a  much  nearer  route  than  to  double  Cape  Horn. 

"' Resolved,  To  instruct  our  Trimble  and  Ruggles 
To  aid  by  log-rolling,  and  speeches,  and  struggles. 
And  that  lioss,  Brush,  and  Keecher,  and  Herrick,  and  Sloan 
Be  requested  to  speak  in  their  manliest  tone. 
And  strive  that  these  laudable  things  should  obtain, 
That  thus  we  may  all  be  elected  again. 

'"Eider: 

"  'Resohed,  By  the  house,  that  the  senate  is  crazy, 
For  if  they'd  act  wise  they'd  be  quiet  and  aisy, 
And  let  every  man  buy  his  coat  where  he  can 
For  specie  or  paper,  for  beef,  pork,  or  grain.'  " 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  December  24,  1819:  "I  came  from  the 
house  this  evening  wearied.  I  had  made  a  speech,  in 
which  I  felt  considerably  animated,  and  now  experience 
the  consequent  exhaustion.  The  question  i-n  debate  re- 
lated to  the  banks  which  failed  to  pay  their  notes.  Dr. 
Campbell,  whom  I  consider  one  of  the  lirst  men  in  the 
house  for  ability  and  integrity,  Mr.  Corey,  and  several 
others,  spoke  on  the  same  side  of  the  question  ;  Mr.  Kelly, 
a  lawyer  and  a  Democrat,  on  the  opposite. 

"I  am  appointed  on  a  very  important  committee,  who 
have  under  consideration  a  bill  to  regulate  schools.  I  am 
endeavoring  to  draw  a  bill  which  I  hope  will  be  so  con- 
structed as  to  pass,  and  to  produce  a  good  effect." 

'i\)  Airs.  Cutler,  December  29,  1819  :  "  I  have  just  re- 
turned from  attending  a  meeting  of  our  committee.  The 
difficulty  in  making  thick-headed  mortals  understand 
plain  questions  is  sometimes  vexing,  but  this  evening  our 
committee  has  had  to  contend  with  art  and  avarice  com- 
bined. There  is  nowhere  to  be  found  knaves  more  design- 
ing than  at  a  legislature,  wiiere,  with  specious  words  and 
demure  looks,  they  seek  to  entrap  the  unwary.  I  am 
truly  tired  of  it.     My  liead,  hands,  and  even  heart  are  en- 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  121 

gaged  in  the  labors  before  me.  There  is  as  yet  nothing  of 
asperity  in  the  house  ;  the  senate  is  more  divided." 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  January  9,  1820  :  "  It  afflicts  me  to  see- 
so  much  time  wasted  in  doing  or  rather  in  debating  about 
things,  the  most  of  which  ought  not  to  be  done ;  but  so  it 
is.  Conscience  and  inclination  both  prompt  me  to  en- 
deavor to  accomplish  something  that  will  be  of  service  to 
my  constituents.  I  am  not  without  hopes  of  effecting  a. 
chano^e  in  (uir  svsteni  of  taxation,  and  of  o;etting  a  law 
passed  for  establishing  school  districts  and  encouraging 
schools,  and  a  state  road  from  the  mouth  of  Fishing  creek 
to  West  Union,  and  also  to  Portsmouth.  On  taxation,  I 
have  had  two  trials,  and  had,  alone,  to  combat  all  the- 
speakers  in  the  house.  On  the  first  vote,  twenty-two 
voted  with  me,  and  forty  against;  but  on  the  second  they 
stood  twenty-eight  to  thirty-two.  I  will  make  one  more 
effort,  and  hope  to  carry  it. 

"I  presume  you  will  remember  how  bitterly  Gen.T 

used  to  persecute  and  abuse  me ;  I  have,  this  day,  had  an 
opportunity  to  reward  him  in  a  way  that  I  should  always 
be  glad  to  reward  all  others  who  have  done  the  like.  He 
had  a  claim  before  the  house  for  services  rendered  to  the 
state.  I  exerted  myself  to  the  utmost  to  have  him  receive 
a  handsome  compensation,  while  his  former  sycophants- 
forsook  him,  and  were  ready  to  reduce  his  pay  to  what 
would  be  meanness.  Perhaps  I  may  some  day  show  you  a 
letter  which  he  wrote  me  on  Saturday. 

"A  few  days  ago  we  liad  a  resolution  before  the  house 
respecting  allowing  slavery  in  the  new  State  of  Missouri;. 
that  is,  requesting  congress  not  to  allow  it  in  that  coun- 
try." [The  resolution  here  referred  to,  with  preamble,  is 
recorded  January  15,  1820,  senate  journal,  as  having 
passed  both  houses  of  the  legislature.  They  are  as  fol- 
lows:  "AVhereas,  The  existence  of  slavery  in  our  country 
must  be  considered  a  national  calamity,  as  well  as  a  great 
moral  and  political  evil ;  and,  whereas,  the  admission  of 
slavery  into  the  new  states  and  territories  of  the  United 
States  is  fraught  with  the  most  pernicious  consequences,, 
and  is  calculated  to  endanger  the  peace  and  prosperity  of 


122  Life  of  Epliraim  Cutler. 

our  country;  therefore,  Besolved,  by  the  general  assembly 
•of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That  our  senators  and  representatives 
in  Congress  be  requested  to  use  their  utmost  exertions  to 
prevent  the  introduction  of  shivery  into  any  of  the  terri- 
tories of  the  United  States,  or  any  new  state  that  may 
hereafter  be  admitted  into  the  Union."']  "I  attempted  to 
make  a  speech  on  this  subject,  got  pretty  warm,  and  spoke 
with  energy.  My  friends  appeared  well  pleased.  I  some- 
times get  excited  in  debate,  perhaps  too  much  so,  but  I 
believe  I  have  never  descended  from  a  dignified  course, 
and  when  I  have  the  floor,  I  am  gratified  by  the  order  and 
stillness  which  ensues.  I  have  made  it  a  rule  never  to 
speak  unless  to  assist  a  friend,  or  to  vindicate  something 
which  relates  to  the  interests  of  my  constituents,  and  on 
subjects  of  a  general  nature  only  when  duty  seems  to 
compel. 

"  I  have  been  interrupted  by  Mr.  !N"ashee,  your  favorite 
editor.  I  think  his  modesty  and  unassuming  simplicity  of 
character,  his  intelligence  and  correct  deportment,  make 
him  quite  interesting.  He  boards  at  Gardner's,  but  is  fre- 
quently in  my  room,  and  the  dull  hours  move  more  rapidly 
in  his  company. 

"Mr.  Bazaleel  Wells  is  also  here  on  business.  His  brow 
is  somewhat  wrinkled  with  care,  and  his  head  silvered  by 
time ;  but  he  still  retains  that  noble,  dignified  air,  which 
you  have  often  heard  me  mention  that  he  possessed  in  a 
superior  degree." 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  January  21, 1820 :  "  I  am  oppressed  with 
the  responsible  situation  in  which  I  am  placed.  The  bill 
before  the  house  for  regulating  schools,  on  which  I  have 
spent  much  thought  and  many  hours  of  labor,  I  expect  to 
lose,  and  dread  the  day  when  I  must  exert  all  my  poor 
ability  to  again  defend  it.  Another  bill  for  forming  a 
canal  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Ohio,  which  duty  requires  me 
to  oppose,  is  a  source  of  painful  solicitude.  I  am  alone  in 
this,  as  respects  men  of  ability,  but  I  must  do  the  best  I 
can." 

A  week  later  he  writes  :  "  For  several  days  I  have  had 
to  contend  with  the  most  eloquent  and  influential  men  in 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  123 

the  house  on  questions  of  the  most  interesting  nature. 
The  act  for  reguhxting  schools,  which  I  originated,  and 
that  I  now  feel  gratitude  to  God  for  sustaining  me  in  car- 
rying  through,  has  passed  the  house — yeas  forty,  nays 
twenty.  An  act,  for  taxing  lands,  which  contained  many 
odious  principles,  was  yesterday  rejected  by  the  house.  I 
have  the  credit  of  effecting  this  result.  It  was  recommit- 
ted to  a  select  committee,  of  which  I  was  a  member,  a 
majority  of  whom  were  my  friends.  I  had,  I  believe,  the 
whole  subject  under  m}-  control.  I  think  I  shall,  eventu- 
ally, obtain  all  that  I  expected;  that  is,  a  just  and  equal 
system  of  taxation.  These  and  other  subjects  have  drawn 
me  into  discussion  with  some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the 
house." 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  Februarv  6,  1820:  "The  house  dis- 
patched  a  good  deal  of  business  last  week,  and  I  think 
the  session  will  close  about  the  25th  of  February.  The 
canal  bill  lies  back.  I  expect  to  have  one  more  tiresome 
day  when  it  comes  up.  It  makes  my  head  and  back  ache 
to  discuss  these  tough  questions.  The  projectors,  I  am 
told,  are  rather  alarmed  at  the  opposition.  It  cost  me  a 
day's  most  fatiguing  labor  when  it  was  before  the  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  house.  To  support  every  proposition, 
and  rebut  every  cavil,  single-handed,  is,  indeed,  a  task.  I 
asked  some,  whose  duty  it  was  to  come  forward  as  much 
as  it  was  mine,  why  they  did  not  do  so?  Their  answer 
was,  that  I  had  anticipated  all  that  they  could  say !  This, 
however,  was  not  the  fact. 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  hearing  the  Rev.  Mr.  Iloge. 
He  is  a  fine  preacher,  and  I  have  constantly  attended  his 
church." 

To  the  foreo:oino-  extracts  from  Judsre  Cutler's  own  let- 
ters  will  now  be  added  letters  written  by  gentlemen  to 
him,  relating  to  matters  that  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
legislature  this  winter.  Tlie  first  is  from  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Lindley,  a  Presbyterian  miilister,  w^ho  had  been  selected 
by  the  Trustees  of  the  Ohio  University,  in  1808,  to  organ- 
ize that  institution,  which  he  did,  and  had  continued  to 
conduct  with  distinguished  ability  and  success.     It  is  dated 


124  Life  of  Ephraim.  Cutler. 

Athens,  February  15,  1820:  "  I  must  apologize  that  I  have 
not  written  to  you  since  you  left  Athens.  Mr.  Whittlesey 
has  been  much  out  of  health,  and  that  circumstance  has 
imposed  a  double  duty  upon  me  in  the  seminary.  There 
is  also  a  very  great  excitement  of  a  religious  kind,  in  this 
place ;  it  is  much  more  extensive  than  any  thing  that  I 
have  witnessed  here  before.  It  is  principally,  as  yet,  con- 
fined to  those  who  attend  worship  with  us,  and,  I  believe, 
altogether  to  the  youth.  I  am  worn  out  with  collegiate 
duties  and  parochial  labors. 

"From  the  conversation  I  had  with  you,  I  think  you 
understand  the  wishes  of  the  trustees  of  the  seminary,  so 
that  nothing  but  their  petition  to  the  legislature  will  be 
necessary  to  revive  all  in  your  mind.  It  is  not  the  opin- 
ion of  the  board  that  it  would  be  best  for  the  institution 
to  have  the  lands  which  support  it  subjected  to  a  reap- 
praisement  at  certain  periods,  say  every  twenty-five  or 
thirty  ^-ears.  The  question  which  labored  in  the  minds  of 
the  trustees  was,  whether  or  not  thev  had  a  rio-ht  to  have 
those  lands,  before  they  again  leased  them,  reappraised, 
which  had  been  appraised  once,  and  had  afterward  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  board?  All  the  law  characters  be- 
longing to  the  board  said  that  they  could  not  be  legally 
reappraised,  without  an  act  of  the  legislature  for  that  ex- 
press purpose. 

"  Should  you  be  able  to  obtain  the  passage  of  a  law  ac- 
cording to  the  wishes  of  the  board,  I  hope  that  law  will 
extend  to  all  lands  which  may  from  time  to  time  be  for- 
feited to  the  board." 

An  act  authorizing  the  reappraisement  of  lands  revert- 
ing to  the  university  was  passed  February  18,  1820. 

The  following  letter  from  Hon.  Paul  Fearing  refers  to 
"  an  act  defining  the  duties  of  justices  of  the  peace  and 
constables  in  criminal  and  civil  cases,"  which  was  then 
under  discussion  in  the  legislature,  and  passed  February 
16,  1820.  The  letter  is  dated  "Marietta,  February  15, 
1820.  Report  says  that  nearl}'  all  our  legislators  are  jus- 
tices of  the  peace,  and  that  they  have  raised  their  juris- 
diction   to    one    hundred    dollars.     Wise    legislators    can 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  125 

transcend  the  constitution,  and,  as  Gen.  11.  says,  we  must 
obey.  The  report  goes  on  to  say,  that  before  the  justice 
neither  party  is  to  have  attorney  or  counsel ;  and  for  the 
greater  dispatch  of  business,  the  parties  shall  not  tell  their 
own  stories  ;  and  for  the  saving  of  cost  to  the  losing  party, 
there  shall  be  no  appeal.  It  is  good  economy;  onr  citi- 
zens had  better  be  at  work,  than  spending  their  time  and 
money  at  courts.  The  act,  however,  reminds  me  of  a  cir- 
cular letter  written  by  a  Mr.  Stewart,  a  member  of  Con- 
gress from  Pennsylvania,  to  his  constituents.  I  remember 
a  part  of  it,  after  it  was  versified.  I  will  give  it  you.  The 
letter  was  written  to  aifect  the  then  ensuing  election,  and 
is  as  follows : 

"  'Don't  choose  a  lawyer  for  your  representative, 
For  the  lawyers  are  the  greatest  rogues  alive; 
Don't  choose  a  lamed  man,  they  bother  business  vilely; 
But  choose  such  men  as  Me,  and  Bendeger,  and  Smiley.'" 

The  condition  of  the  currency  at  this  time  was  very  un- 
satisfactory, the  solvency  of  many  of  tlie  banks  in  the 
state  was  questioned,  and  business  was  prostrated;  and 
the  legislature  was  expected  to  find  a  remedy.  People 
were  restive,  too,  under  the  unjust  system  of  taxation  then 
prevailing.  The  annoyances  to  tax-payers  arising  from 
these  causes  appear  from  the  following  letter  written  by 
David  Putnam,  Esq.,*  a  gentleman  largely  interested  in 
real  estate.  It  is  dated,  "  Marietta,  24th  December,  1819. 
I   have    an    unexpected    opportunity  of  writing   you   by 

B ,  who  goes  to  Columbus  in  the  morning,  with  the 

view  of  paying  the  taxes  in  his  agency,  not  being  able  to 
do  it  here  without  much  additional  expense.     As  I  began 


*  David  Putnam,  son  of  Colonel  Israel  Putnam,  and  grand-son  of 
General  Israel  Putnam,  of  the  revolution,  was  born  in  Pomfret,  Con- 
necticut, February  24,  1769,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College,  1793. 
Studied  law,  and  came  to  Marietta  in  1798,  where  he  practiced  law  for 
thirty  years,  and  then  devoted  himself  to  an  extensive  land  agency. 
He  was  an  intelligent  and  valuable  citizen,  "a  friend  to  order  morals, 
education,  and  religion."  He  died  March  31,  1856,  aged  eighty-seven 
years. 


126  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

early  in  September,  and  have  been  paying  until  now,  I 
have  got  through  with  mine,  but  I  never  had  such  a  strug- 
gle before.  More  than  §600  I  have  been  obliged  to  pay  in 
specie.  The  operation  of  our  tax  system  in  this  district 
is  abominable.  I  understand,  at  Zanesville,  canal  notes 
are  taken  by  the  collector,  and  at  Cincinnati,  the  notes  of 
that  place.  And  here,  with  such  money  as  I  have  been 
obliged  to  pay,  I  could  purchase  Zanesville  and  Cincinnati 
paper  at  more  than  twenty  per  cent  discount.  This  would 
have  saved  more  than  $300  in  my  agency.  Somebody 
must  gain,  others  lose  this  ditierence.  But  on  the  prin- 
ciple disclosed  by  the  auditor  in  his  expose  last  year,  in 
which  he  proposed  that  non-residents  should  pay  their 
taxes  at  Columbus,  to  save  the  expense  of  the  salaries  of 
the  district  collectors,  this  diiference  or  loss  which  I  men- 
tion is  of  no  consequence,  so  long  as  it  does  not  fall  on  the 
state  treasury.  I  would  suggest  to  the  honorable  auditor 
another  item  of  his  system  of  saving — that  is,  to  require 
every  person  taxed  in  the  state  to  go  to  Columbus,  make 
his  obeisance  to  the  auditor,  and  pay  his  tax  there.  By 
this  method  the  auditor  would  have  a  galaxy  of  glory 
formed  around  the  portrait  of  his  wisdom,  for  it  would 
save  to  the  state  treasury  seven  or  eight  per  cent  on  the 
residents'  tax,  which  the  county  collectors  now  filch  or 
suck  from  the  treasury.  Would  not  such  financial  talents 
claim  for  him  a  statue,  erected  in  a  trio  with  Pitt  and 
Hamilton  ? 

"It  is  a  false  and  pernicious  principle,  too  much  inter- 
woven in  our  laws  and  state  business,  to  disregard  the 
time  and  expense  it  costs  the  individual  to  comply  with 
the  requisitions  of  the  state,  so  long  as  that  time  and  ex- 
pense are  not  paid  out  of  the  treasury.  It  seems  to  have 
been  forgotten,  or  not  known,  that  any  extra  trouble  or 
expense  to  which  an  individual  is  subjected  in  paying  the 
public  burdens,  is  a  direct  tax  or  loss  to  the  community, 
for  all  our  resources  are  derived  from  the  industry  of  the 
individuals  composing  that  community.  The  least  possi- 
ble inconvenience  should  be  imposed  on  the  person  of 
whom  a  tax  is  demanded.     A  civil  highwayman  would  not 


Life  of  Ephraiiii  Cutler.  127 

knock  a  man  down,  if  lie  could  get  Lis  purse  without  it; 
so  a  civil  government  ought  not,  in  peremptorily  requiring 
a  citizen  to  pay  one  dollar  to  support  that  government, 
put  him  to  the  inconvenience  of  spending  half  a  day,  or 
half  a  dollar,  to  do  it. 

"  I  hope  some  system  of  taxation  will  be  devised  by  the 
legislature  in  lieu  of  the  present  unequal  one.  You  know 
M'hat  we  want,  but  to  etlect  it— there's  the  rub." 

During  the  session  of  1819-20,  the  establishment  and 
improvement  of  roads,  and  the  building  of  bridges,  claimed 
a  large  share  of  the  attention  of  the  legislature.  These 
improvements  were  of  the  tirst  necessity  in  a  compara- 
tively new  country,  to  promote  its  development,  and  se- 
cure the  comfort  and  convenience  of  its  inhabitants. 
Congress  had  granted  to  the  state  for  the  purpose  of  lay- 
ing out,  opening,  and  making  roads,  three  per  cent  of  the 
moneys  received  from  the  sale  of  public  hinds  in  Ohio  ; 
and  at  this  session  $59,000  was  appropriated  from  this 
fund  to  that  object;  and  in  the  distribution  of  the  money 
$1,000  fell  to  AVashington  county.  The  unsatisfactory- 
condition  of  the  banks  had  not  only  prostrated  business,, 
but  had  seriously  embarrassed  the  state,  and  delayed  the 
payment  of  the  three  per  cent  fund.  In  answer  to  a 
letter  of  inquiry  from  Judge  Cutler,  the  following  was  re- 
ceived : 

"  Treasury  Office,  Columbus,  July  17,  1820. 

"Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  the  5th  inst.  was  just  received. 
I  received  from  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  a  draft 
for  140,155.27,  of  the  three  per  cent  fund,  upon  the  bank 
of  Steubenville ;  from  that  bank  I  have  taken  nothing 
worse  than  their  paper,  which  is  specie  funds;  but  you 
may  recollect  that  on  investigation  of  the  funds  of  this 
department,  that  there  remained  and  was  intermixed  with 
the  general  revenue  more  than  eleven  thousand  dollars  of 
former  appropriations  of  the  three  per  cent  fund,  and  which 
I  have  been  paying  out  in  proportion  of  one-fifth  from  the 
general  revenue,  but  am  in  hopes  that  I  may  effect  some 
exchanges  of  the  general  revenue,  as  I  this  morning 
learned  that  the   Miami   Exporting  Company's  paper  is 


128  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

looking  up;  and  can  therefore  inform  you  that  I  shall  pay 
the  three  per  cent  certificates  in  specie  funds. 

"And  as  the  general  revenue  at  this  time  consists  of 
nothing  better  than  Miami  Exporting  Company's  paper, 
Lebanon,  Miami  B.  Co.,  Urbana,  and  Bank  of  Cincinnati, 
I  can  not  discharge  an  audited  bill  on  the  general  revenue 
unless  the  above-named  paper  will  do  it.  Mr.  Osborn  and 
myself  have  had  one  trip  to  the  western  banks  on  the 
business  of  exchanging,  and  with  all  the  exertions  we 
could  make  only  succeeded  in  getting  from  the  Miami 
Exporting  Company  Bank  enough  to  pay  the  penitentiary 
debts  to  individuals  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  from  the  other 
banks  nothing  but  fair  speeches.  I  intend  visiting  the 
banks  again  in  September,  and,  if  possible,  to  better  the 
general  revenue,  as  the  demands  of  public  creditors  are 
pressing ;  and  as  there  is  more  than  |30,000  of  uncurrent 
paper  at  this  time  in  the  treasury,  it  makes  my  situation 
very  unpleasant;  and  in  a  number  of  instances  have  paid 
out  my  private  funds  on  audited  bills ;  and,  like  many 
others,  can  not  draw  my  quarter's  salary. 

"  If  it  should  so  happen  that  no  exchanges  of  the  gen- 
eral revenue  can  be  made,  I  shall  be  compelled  still  to  pay 
from  1-5  to  1-10  of  the  three  per  cent  certificates  from  the 
general  revenue;  but  that  part  shall  be  as  good  as  is  in 
that  fund.  But  I  am  at  this  time  paying  good  funds  for 
the  three  per  cent  certificates,  and  no  exertions  on  my 
part  shall  be  wanting  to  continue  to  do  so,  and  to  deal 
out  to  each  applicant  equal  and  exact  justice.  I  need  not 
mention  to  you  the  suspicion  and  distrust  entertained  of 
nearly  all  bank  paper,  and  the  distracted  state  of  the  cur- 
rency of  the  country,  and  the  prudent  management  nec- 
essary by  the  citizens  and  moneyed  institutions,  in  con- 
junction with  this  department,  to  better  the  circulating 
medium  of  the  state. 

"Accept  the  assurances  of  the  regard  of 

"  Sam'l  Sullivan, 
'■'■Treasure!'  of  Ohio. 

"E.  Cutler,  Esq." 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  129 

In  January,  1822,  a  joint  resolution  passed  the  legisla- 
ture authorizing  the  governor  to  appoint  eoniniissioners  to 
report  a  system  of  education  adapted  to  common  schools, 
in  pursuance  of  which  the  acting  governor,  Allen  Trimble, 
in  May  following,  appointed  Messrs.  Caleb  Atwater,  John 
Collins,  James  Hoge,  JS'athaniel  Guilford,  Ephraim  Cutler, 
Josiah  Barber,  and  James  13ell.  On  this  subject,  the  gov- 
ernor, in  his  message  to  the  next  general  assembly,  says: 
"  The  acceptance  by  the  commissioners  of  the  appointment 
to  so  laborious  a  duty  is  evidence  of  their  ze:!l  in  the  cause 
of  education,  and  from  their  known  abilities  it  may  be  ex- 
pected that  much  useful  information  will  be -presented  to 
the  legislature  on  this  highly  important  and  interesting 
subject — a  subject  justly  demanding  the  attention  and 
undivided  aid  and  support  of  the  representatives  of  an 
enlightened,  free,  and  independent  state." 

The  commissioners  met  in  Columbus  in  June,  and  or- 
ganized by  making  Mr.  Atwater  their  chairman  ;  and 
directed  liim  to  prepare  a  circular  letter  to  be  addressed 
to  all  such  persons  as  had  charge  of  the  school  lands  in 
Ohio,  requesting  information  respecting  them.  At  this 
meeting  the  counties  of  Scioto,  Jackson,  Pike,  Lawrence, 
Gallia,  Meigs,  Athens,  Hocking,  Morgan,  Monroe,  and 
Washington  were  allotted  to  Ephraim  Cutler  to  ascertain 
the  state  and  value  of  the  school  lands  within  their  limits, 
and  to  collect  other  educational  statistics.  He  devoted 
much  time  and  thought  to  these  investigations,  not  only 
by  correspondence,  but  by  personally  visiting  many  points, 
in  order  to  secure  the  knowledge  desired. 

Several  years  later,  Judge  Cutler  wrote  in  reference  to 
these  services  :  "  Being  somewhat  of  an  enthusiast  in  favor 
of  the  diffusion  of  education  through  all  ranks  of  society, 
I  engaged  with  a  willing  mind,  and  at  no  small  degree  of 
personal  labor  and  fatigue,  to  fulfill  the  duty  thus  imposed 
upon  me,  and  persevered  until  I  had  collected  a  large 
amount  of  statistical  information  respecting  the  improve- 
ments made  on  the  school  lands  in  the  several  counties 
allotted  to  me.  It  was  no  easy  matter  to  get  the  ueces- 
9 


130  Life  of  Ephrriim   Cutler. 

sary  information  to  make  out  a  statistical  table  exliil)iting 
the  state,  value,  and  rents  of  these  lands  in  so  large  a  dis- 
trict; and  in  consequence  of  the  great  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing accurate  and  full  accounts  it  was  incomplete.  If  my 
recollection  serves  me,  it  was  the  only  thing  done  in  this 
direction  at  that  time,  for  very  little  other  statistical  infor- 
mation was  collected.  In  my  researches  I  found  that  in 
some  instances  lands  had  not  been  appropriated  by  Con- 
gress agreeably  to  the  conditions  agreed  upon  when  we 
came  into  a  state  government ;  but  these  have  since  been 
obtained  by  a  special  act  of  Congress." 

In  August,  1822,  the  school  commissioners  met  again  in 
Columbus,  and  as  the  result  of  their  labors  and  investiga- 
tions, directed  their  chairman  to  prepare  a  report  to  be 
submitted  to  the  next  general  assembly.  This  report  con- 
sisted of  a  bill  proposed  for  regulating  common  schools, 
and  a  [)am[)hlet  showing  the  condition  of  the  school 
lands. 

In  this  connection,  a  correspondence  on  the  subject  of 
the  school  lands  is  here  subjoined.  Judge  Cutler,  in  a 
letter  dated  Xovember  16,  1822,  writes  to  Hon.  William 
liufus  Putnam,  a  most  intelligent  and  thoughtful  observer, 
as  follows:  "Sickness  and  the  most  pressing  business 
combined  have  prevented  the  close  attention  which  duty 
and  inclination  would  have  induced  me  to  pay  to  the  sub- 
ject of  schools,  and  especially  to  the  situation  of  the  school 
lands  within  the  Ohio  Company's  Purchase.  I  am  partic- 
ularly anxious  to  have  an  official  statement  from  you  of 
the  grant,  with  its  conditions,  of  No.  16,  within  the  tract 
of  214,000  acres  of  army  lands  within  the  Purchase,  which 
lot  was  granted  by  the  Ohio  Company.  It  appears  that  it 
is  really  necessary  to  have  either  the  general  law  adapted 
to  the  conditions  of  that  grant,  or  that  a  special  law  be 
passed  having  reference  to  those  lands  only.  I  earnestly 
request  you  to  aid  me  with  your  ideas  on  the  whole  sub- 
ject, which  will  be  before  the  school  commissioners.  What 
do  you  think  of  a  general  trust  in  one  or  more  commis- 
sioners, to  superintend  not  only  the  fiscal  matters,  but  the 


Life  of  Ej)]iraim  Cutler.  131 

real  state  of  education  ?     A  thought  of  this  kind  has  tran- 
siently passed  through  my  mind." 

To  this  letter,  Mr.  Putnam  replied,  December  23,  1822: 
"  Your  favor  of  the  16th  of  November  is  before  me.  Hav- 
ing an  opportunity  by  Mr,  Whittlesey,  agreeable  to  your 
request,  I  now  inclose  an  extract  from  the  records  of  the 
Ohio  Company  containing  all  that  relates  to  the  sections 
mentioned  by  you.  I  have  not  time  to  give  the  subject 
of  schools,  etc.,  as  thorough  an  investigation  as  I  intended, 
notwithstanding,  such  as  my  reflections  have  been,  will 
candidly  be  submitted.  The  grants  constituting  the  pub- 
lic funds  for  the  support  of  schools  we  will  iirst  notice; 
the  provisions  in  the  ordinance  of  1785  you  will  recollect, 
and  to  what  tracts  of  country  they  apply ;  that  these  were 
specific  appropriations  to  the  respective  townships  has  not 
as  yet  been  doubted.  On  this  principle  the  propositions 
of  Congress,  contained  in  the  '  act  enabling  the  people  of 
the  eastern  division  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
to  form  a  constitution  and  state  government,'  were  predi- 
cated (see  prop'n  1st) :  '  That  the  section  ISTo.  16,  in  every 
township,  and  where  such  section  has  been  sold,  granted, 
or  disposed  of,  other  lands  equivalent  thereto,  and  most 
contiguous  to  the  same,  shall  be  granted  to  the  inhabitants 
of  such  township  for  the  use  of  schools.'  These  propositions 
were  afterward  modified,  but  this  principle  retained  (see 
the  act  of  modification) :  '  Section  3.  That  the  sections  of 
land  heretofore  promised  for  the  use  of  schools,  in  lieu  of 
such  sections  No.  16  as  have  been  otherwise  disposed  of, 
shall  be  selected  by  the  treasurer  out  of  the  unappropri- 
ated and  reserved  sections  in  the  most  contiguous  town- 
ships.' And,  further,  this  principle  by  the  fourth  propo- 
sition of  this  last-mentioned  act,  looks  even  to  the  lands 
lying  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  to  which  the  Indian  title  had 
not  been  extinguished.  These  lands  can  not  be  thrown 
into  a  general  mass.  The  appropriations  for  the  U.  S. 
Military  Lands,  the  '  Connecticut  Reserve,'  and  the  '  Vir- 
ginia Military  Reservation'  I  consider  as  specific  grants  to 
each ;  and  that  these,  with  those  above,  are  vested  in  the 
legislature,  in  trust  for  the  use  of  schools  only.     This  trust 


132  Life  of  ^jjhraim    Cutler. 

the  legislature  will  manage  in  its  own  way ;  but  tliey  can 
never  apply  the  proceeds  arising  in  one  township  to  the 
benefit  of  another  any  more  than  they  can  those  arising 
from  the  grant  to  the  Connecticut  Reserve  to  the  benefit 
of  the  Virginia  Military  Reservation.  That  they  have 
power  to  delegate  their  trust,  and  to  vary  the  same,  when- 
ever it  will  not  interfere  with  bona  fide  contracts  predicated 
upon  their  former  acts,  there  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind. 

"  The  sections  supplied  to  the  ten  townships  by  the  Ohio 
Company  stand  on  very  difl^erent  ground ;  they  are  the 
private  grant  of  the  Ohio  Company,  the  same  as  an  indi- 
vidual, pointing  out  the  mode  of  their  regulation,  and 
upon  certain  abuses  authorizing  the  legislature,  on  appli- 
cation, to  take  charge  and  provide  for  them  by  law.  If 
the  legislature  could  now  so  far  interfere  as  to  preserve 
the  property  it  would  be  well.  The  question  has  been 
asked  me  by  the  auditor  whether  these  lands  were  not 
subject  to  taxes  ?  Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  examine 
into  this  subject. 

"  It  has  been  said  again  and  again,  that  these  public 
lands  were  of  no  real  value,  that  the  time  expended  in 
legislating  upon  them  cost  the  state  more  than  they  were 
worth.  This  is  true  in  some  sense,  but  the  evil  has  not 
arisen  from  the  liberality  of  the  grant,  but  from  the  abuse. 
Is  there  any  thing  of  a  public  nature  but  that  has  been 
made  handy  change  to  purchase  suffrages  V  That  class  of 
citizens  which  has  uniformly  settled  upon  those  lands, 
possessing  nothing,  have  had  the  effrontery  to  ask  more 
attention  from  the  legislature  than  any  other;  those  evils 
must  be  attributed  to  the  lowness  and  corruptness  of  the 
public  morals.  Shall  we  now  abandon  these  donations 
because  they  have  been  perverted?  This  will  not  remun- 
erate the  state  for  the  expense  it  has  been  at,  neither  will 
it  be  fulfilling  the  trust  deposited  with  us  for  posterity. 
Were  our  school  lands  in  the  situation  'of  the  funds  of 
Connecticut  or  Kew  York  I  would  advise  to  convert  them 
into  money,  but  situated  as  they  are,  it  seems  to  me  pru- 
dent to  use  them  for  our  present  advantage,  and  secure  to 
posterity  their  use,  with  the  enhanced  value. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler,  133 

"As  to  the  education  of  our  youth,  I  would  suggest  the 
following  plan  generally :  Make  it  the  duty  of  the  trustees 
in  each  township  to  divide  the  same  into  convenient  school 
districts,  having  regard  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  in 
each,  making  them  as  nearly  equal  as  possible,  among 
which  the  funds  arising  from  section  16  should  be  annu- 
ally divided  in  equal  parts,  viz :  where  ther6  shall  be  four 
districts  in  a  township,  each  one  shall  have  one-fourth 
part  of  the  funds  for  that  year;  provided,  always,  that 
each  district  should  procure  to  be  taught  in  the  same  a 
free  school  for  three  months,  or  a  quarter  each  year,  by 
taxing  themselves  or  raising  the  amount  by  subscription, 
which,  together  with  the  dividend  of  funds,  should  be 
equal  to  procure  a  teacher  qualified  to  instruct  in  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic;  and  provided  the  said  teacher 
shall  have  been  approved  of  as  a  suitable  and  adequate 
teacher  of  the  branches  aforesaid  by  the  trustees  of  the 
township.  .  .  .  The  quahfications  of  the  teachers  may 
be  said  to  be  low,  but  when  we  consider  the  state  of  soci- 
ety, I  think,  however,  we  may  desire  to  see  our  youth  well 
instructed  in  grammar,  etc.,  yet  this  ought  not  to  be  re- 
quired of  a  teacher  to  entitle  a  district  in  the  participation 
of  the  funds.  That  the  rising  generation  shall  be  able  to 
read,  write,  and  cast  accounts  generally  will  place  them 
upon  a  common  level  with  their  fellow  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  this  will  be  the  case,  and  the 
happ3'  result  of  the  united  eiforts  of  your  present  commis- 
sion, is  the  ardent  desire  of  your  obedient  humble  servant, 

"W.  E.  Putnam." 

A  series  of  articles  on  "taxation,"  signed  "Publius,"  ap- 
peared during  the  autumn  of  1822  in  the  American  Friend, 
a  newspaper  published  at  Marietta,  These  were  written 
by  Judge  Cutler  to  call  attention  to  the  defects  and  in- 
equalities of  the  existing  system,  and  to  expose  the  injus- 
tice to  which  this  section  of  the  state  had  been  subjected, 
in  being  required  to  bear  more  than  a  due  proportion  of 
the  burden  of  taxation. 

The  year  1822  was  one  of  those  remarkable  years,  long 


134  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

remembered  as  the  "  sickly  seasons,"  which,  for  a  time, 
desohited  the  region  bordering  upon  the  Ohio.  He,  with 
his  family,  was  prostrated  with  fever,  and  a  beloved  son 
(Manasseh)  was  removed  by  death.  As  soon  as  his  health 
permitted,  a  journey  across  the  mountains  was  made  nec- 
essary by  the  fact  that  a  valuable  drove  of  cattle  had  been 
sent  forward  to  the  South  Branch  of  Potomac ;  and  also  a 
large  drove  of  hogs  for  the  Baltimore  market.  He  had 
been  re-elected  to  the  house  of  representatives,  but  these 
circumstances  had  delayed  him,  and  it  was  late  in  Decem- 
ber before  he  reached  Columbus. 

At  this  time  Washington  and  Morgan  counties  were 
united  in  representation.  His  right  to  a  seat  was  con- 
tested by  Judge  Sherebiah  Clark,  of  Morgan.  Judge 
Clark  submitted  his  documents  and  testimony  to  the  com- 
mittee of  privileges  and  elections,  who  decided  against 
him.  "As  there  was  no  evidence  to  prejudice  his  claim," 
the  committee  recommended  that  the  house  adopt  a  reso- 
lution "that  Ephraim  Cutler,  Esq.,  is  entitled  to  a  seat  in 
this  house,"  which  was  done. 

He  writes  to  Mrs,  Cutler,  December  30,  1822  :  "  I  have 
not  written  to  you  as  soon  as  I  ought,  but  if  you  knew  the 
anxiety,  and  saw  the  difficulties  I  have  had  to  encounter 
you  would  excuse  me.  'Grit'  has  done  and  said  all  of 
which  nature  made  him  capable,  against  me ;  but,  to  his 
mortification,  I  had  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  house  that 
I  was  entitled  to  my  seat.  I  was  immediately  appointed 
one  of  a  committee  to  wait  upon  his  excellency.  Governor 
Morrow,  and  have  received  more  than  a  cordial  welcome 
from  all  my  old  acquaintances. 

"  I  have  this  day  offered  a  resolution  which  has  for  its 
object  to  place  our  taxation  system  on  a  principle  of  ad 
valorem,  and  have  a  fair  prospect  of  carrying  it  through 
both  houses." 

The  resolution  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  letter  is  found 
in  the  house  journal,  December  30,  1822  : 

"  Mr.  Cutler  moved  the  adoption  of  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

"  Resolved,  by  the  general  assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio, 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  135 

that  it  is  expedient  to  adopt  an  equitable  system  of  tax- 
ation. 

"Resolved,  that  to  attain  this  desirable  object,  the  com- 
mittee which  shall  be  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  general  revision  of  the  laws  be  instructed  to  revise  the 
revenue  laws  now  existing,  and  to  report  a  bill  to  the  next 
general  assembly  which  shall  provide  that  houses  and 
lands  shall  be  taxed  according  to  their  value;  and  that 
commercial  capital,  or  the  profit  arising  therefrom,  also 
money  at  interest,  shall  be  taxed  in  an  equitable  propor- 
tion to  other  taxable  property."  This  resolution  passed 
the  house  by  a  vote  of  yeas,  39 ;  nays,  27. 

January  17,  1823,  he  writes  to  Mrs.  Cutler:  "The  reso- 
lution I  have  introduced  relating  to  an  equal  system  of 
taxation  has  been  adopted  by  the  house,  and  I  believe  it 
will  be  by  the  senate.  They  give  me  the  credit  of  being 
the  originator,  from  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  it  is  gaining 
strength  every  day."  As  anticipated,  the  resolution  sub- 
sequently passed  the  senate. 

January  24,  1823,  he  writes  to  William  R.  Putnam,  Esq., 
as  follows : 

"  Dear  Sir — Your  valuable  letter  by  Mr.  Whittlesey  was 
received,  and  I  most  sincerely  thank  you  for  this  instance 
of  friendship.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  communicate 
your  ideas  to  the  leading  members  of  the  committee  on 
schools.  They,  however,  differ  from  us  in  opinion,  as  you 
will  see  by  the  report  which  I  shall  transmit  to  you,  re- 
specting the  power  of  the  state  to  sell  the  land. 

"Kentucky  has  followed  our  example,  and  their  com- 
missioners have  made  a  very  able  report,  accompanied 
with  documents  that  go  to  prove  that  the  system  of  Mas- 
sachusetts is  the  most  simple,  that  of  Connecticut  the  most 
effectual.  ISTew  York's  is  copied  from  Connecticut;  and 
no  state  south  of  these  has  ever  done  any  thing  except 
South  Carolina.  They  recommended  the  adoption  of  the 
Connecticu't  system  with  some  modifications. 

"  You  will  see  the  bill  reported  by  the  school  commis- 
sioners. It  is  the  work  of  Caleb  Atwater,  as  was  also  the 
commissioners'  report.     The  report  of  the  school  commit- 


136  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

tee  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Piatt,  of  Cincinnati.  It  augurs 
well  to  find  so  much  ability  deeply  engaged  in  promoting 
the  interests  of  common  schools.  We  may  confidently 
expect  some  good  to  result,  eventually,  therefrom. 

"  The  legislature  has  passed  a  resolution  which  provides 
that  the  governor  shall  appoint  a  committee  of  three  to 
revise  the  laws  of  a  general  nature.  I  have  introduced  a 
resolution  to  instruct  the  committee  of  revision  to  revise 
our  revenue  system,  and  to  report  a  bill  at  the  next  ses- 
sion, v/hich  shall  provide  that  houses  and  lands  shall  be 
taxed  according  to  their  value ;  that  mercantile  capital  or 
profit,  and  money  at  interest,  shall  be  taxed  in  an  equita- 
ble proportion  to  other  taxable  property.  This  has  passed 
tlie  house,  and  I  have  a  strong  hope  that  it  will  the 
senate.  • 

"All  business  of  a  public  nature  is  now  crowded  off  for 
that  of  the  committee  of  revision ;  there  is  much  private 
business  yet  to  be  acted  upon,  but  the  legislature  will 
probably  adjourn  next  week." 

The  report  of  the  seven  school  commissioners  appointed 
by  the  governor  the  year  previous,  and  referred  to  in  Mr. 
Cutler's  letter  as  the  work  of  Caleb  At  water,  was  submit- 
ted to  the  legislature  early  in  the  session  by  Allen  Trimble, 
speaker  of  the  senate,  and  a  joint  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  it  and  report  thereon,  of  which  com- 
mittee Mr.  Piatt,  of  Hamilton  county,  was  chairman.  The 
report  of  this  school  committee  was  made  by  Mr.  Piatt, 
January  8, 1823. 

At  this  time  Ohio  was  without  a  school  system,  and  any 
attempt  to  establish  common  schools  by  law  met  not 
merely  with  apathy,  but  with  decided  opposition.  The 
existing  laws  relating  to  the  subject  were  local  in  their 
application,  and  in  their  nature  defective,  inconsistent, 
and  altogether  inadequate.  The  state  was  without  a 
school  fund,  although  the  general  government  had  made 
the  liberal  grant  of  one  thirty-sixth  of  the  land  within  the 
state  for  school  purposes.  Some  of  these  lands  had  been 
disposed  of  on  permanent  leases,  some  had  been  squan- 
dered, but  four-fifths  of  the  whole  were  still  at  the  dis- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  137 

posal  of  the  legislature ;  and  in  order  to  form  a  school 
system,  and  secure  its  success,  it  was  now  proposed  that 
these  lands  should  be  sold  and  a  permanent  school  fund 
established  similar  to  that  of  iSTew  York  or  Connecticut, 
each  of  wiiich  states  had  then  a  fund  amounting  to  about 
$1,600,000,  the  interest  of  which  was  annually  appropri- 
ated to  the  support  of  schools,  and  it  was  anticipated  that 
the  school  lands  of  Ohio  would  eventually  yield  as  large 
an  amount. 

Mr.  Piatt,  in  his  long  and  interesting  report,  says: 
"  The  plan  of  the  school  commissioners,  exhibited  in  their 
report,  is  believed  to  be  the  best  adapted  to  Ohio,  viz  : 
That  the  court  of  common  pleas  in  each  county  appoint 
five  commissioners  of  common  schools,  wdiose  duty  it  shall 
be  to  lay  oft  the  same  in  convenient  school  districts,  ex- 
amine the  teachers  employed,  and  if  they  are  found  duly 
qualified  and  of  good  morals,  to  certify  accordingly,  which 
certificate  shall  authorize  the  district  trustees  to  employ 
them,  and  not  otherwise."  The  committee  recommends 
that  there  shall  be  a  superintendent  of  common  schools, 
who  shall  have  the  management  of  the  school  fund,  and 
report  annually  to  the  legislature  school  statistics,  and 
suggest  improvements  of  the  system.  After  reviewing 
the  whole  subject  of  schools  and  the  school  lands,  the 
committee  also  recommend  the  repeal  of  the  laws  author- 
izing permanent  leases,  and  advocate  the  sale  of  the 
school  lands  aiid  the  forming  of  a  permanent  fund,  the 
profits  of  wdiich  shall  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  schools. 
The  report  urges  that  "  there  is  no  time  to  spare  ;  most  of 
the  adults  in  our  state  have  received  their  education  in 
other  states,  but  the  rising  generation  are  miserably  desti- 
tute of  these  benefits."  Thus  year  after  year  the  impor- 
tance and  necessity  of  a  school  system  was  urged  upon  the 
attention  of  the  legislature,  and  still  they  hesitated,  and 
did  nothing. 

Mr.  Cutler  was  present  in  the  house  a  little  more  than 
one  month  during  this  session,  which  closed  January  28, 
1823.  His  vote  is  recorded  in  favor  of  a  proposed  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  was 


138  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

in  these  words  :  "No  person  shall  be  eligible  to  a  seat  in 
either  house  of  Congress,  or  capable  of  holding  or  enjoy- 
ing any  otRce  of  honor,  profit,  or  trust  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  who,  after  the  ratification  of 
this  article  as  a  part  of  the  constitution,  shall  fight  a 
duel,  or  aid,  or  encourage  others  in  so  doing."  This 
passed  the  house  by  a  vote  of  53  to  13. 


Life  of  Ephraiyn  Cutler.  139 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Services  in  the  Ohio  Senate — 1823-1825. 

In  October,  1823,  Judge  Cutler  was  elected  senator  from 
the  district  composed  of  the  counties  of  Washington  and 
Athens ;  and  Mr.  William  Skinner  representative  of  Wash- 
ington county  in  the  ensuing  legislature.  He  writes  from 
Columbus,  December  6,  1823,  to  Mrs.  Cutler: 

"I  arrived  here  Saturday,  without  accident.  Mr.  Skin- 
ner and  I  have  taken  boarding  at  Dr.  Goodale's,  where  we 
have  an  abundance  of  company,  and  a  pleasant  room  by 
ourselves.  I  can  give  you  little  news  respecting  public 
business ;  I  believe,  however,  there  will  be  an  earnest  at- 
tempt to  effect  some  salutary  changes.  I  am,  as  yet,  very 
little  acquainted  with  the  new  members,  but  think  favor- 
ably of  them. 

"  I  have  presented  a  memorial  from  the  Ohio  University, 
which  is  submitted  to  Cutler,  Buckingham,  and  Jennings. 
I  hope  we  shall  obtain  something  beneficial  for  the  insti- 
tution. I  am  on  the  standing  committee  for  schools,  and 
believe  we  shall  agree  upon  a  useful  report." 

December  21,  1823.  To  Mrs.  Cutler:  "  The  legislature 
has  progressed  well  in  the  revision  of  the  laws ;  they  are 
now  employed  in  revising  the  criminal  law ;  much  debate 
has  ensued  on  the  question  of  again  resorting  to  the  bar- 
barous mode  of  whipping  and  the  pillory ;  in  the  senate 
whipping  is  rejected,  but  the  pillory  is  retained. 

"  So  far  as  I  am  able  to  form  a  judgment,  there  is  as 
much  talent,  harmony,  and  industry  as  is  usually  assem- 
bled in  the  legislature.  I  have  my  hands  full.  In  addi- 
tion to  other  duties,  I  am  chairman  of  the  committee  to 
whom  the  revenue  system  is  referred,  and  am  expected  to 
devise  a  new  system. 

"  Of  course  I  feel  very  sensibly  the  responsibility  of  my 


140  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

present  situation.  I  must  rely  alone  upon  Him,  who  has 
the  hearts  of  men  in  Ilis  hand,  and  who  enlightens  the 
understanding,  and  strengthens  the  hands  of  those  who, 
with  truly  humble  confidence,  put  their  trust  in  Him. 

"  We  have  appointed  Rev.  James  Hoge,  of  Columbus, 
and  William  R.  Putnam,  Esq.,  of  Marietta,  trustees  of  the 
Ohio  University.  I  have  a  strong  hope  we  shall  accom- 
plish something  this  winter  for  the  university,  for  common 
schools,  and  for  the  poor  in  lightening  their  taxes;  but  I 
may  be  disappointed.  My  old  friends  here  have  received 
me  with  renewed  kindness.  I,  for  the  first  time  in  the 
senate,  made  a  speech  yesterday.  I  was  frightened,  and 
made  a  poor  out." 

January  3,  1824.  To  Mrs.  Cutler:  "The  Rev.  Jacob 
Lindley  will  be  the  bearer  of  this  letter.  He  has  been 
here  to  meet  with  the  committee  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Ohio  University,  appointed  to  select  a  suitable  person  for 
the  office  of  president  of  that  institution.  We  met  day 
before  yesterday,  and  unanimously  agreed  to  recommend 
to  the  board  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  of  Chillicothe.  I  have 
prepared  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  the  Ohio  University, 
which  is  opposed,  and  I  do  not  know  what  its  fate  will  be. 
The  school  and  taxation  business  is  also  a  constant  bur- 
den. It  is  irksome  to  have  the  mind  continually  on  the 
stretch,  or,  I  may  say,  on  the  rack;  and  painful  to  see 
systems  which  have  cost  sleepless  nights  and  laborious 
days  in  the  preparation  mangled  by  short-sighted  igno- 
rance." 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  January  15,  1824:  "  I  was  never  in  my 
life  placed  in  a  situation  so  arduous  and  difficult  as  I  have 
been  through  this  whole  session.  You  well  know  my 
feelings  in  regard  to  the  Ohio  University,  and  can  also 
understand  what  was  expected  of  me.  My  mind  and 
time  were  very  much  taken  up  with  this  subject  until  it 
passed  the  senate.  I  was  put  constantly  on  the  defensive, 
and  had  to  parry,  answer,  and  sometimes  retort  attacks, 
which  were  very  trying ;  my  success,  however,  in  the  sen- 
ate was  flattering;  it  was  an  appropriation  of  $3,000  by  a 


Life  of  Ephraim  Caller.  141 

vote  of  twenty-three  in  favor,  and  only  ten  against  it.     I 
very  much  fear  its  loss  in  the  house. 

"  I  am  on  the  school  committee  and  on  the  revenue 
committee,  two  of  the  most  important  of  the  session  ;  of 
the  latter  I  am  chairman,  and  it  has  devolved  upon  me  to 
prepare  an  entirely  new  system  of  revenue  for  the  state. 
I  have  reported  one  bill  on  this  subject,  and  have  another 
nearly  ready.  I  have  labored  at  it  incessantly,  and  have 
not  allowed  myself  more  than  four  hours  to  sleep  in  the 
twenty-four  for  three  weeks  past.  My  friends  say  I  look 
sick ;  although  I  can  not  eat  or  sleep,  my  bodily  health  is 
good.  JSTot  only  my  reputation,  but  the  good  of  my  coun- 
tiy  is  at  stake,  and  much  depends  upon  how  I  am  enabled 
to  discharge  my  duty.  This,  with  the  necessity  of  close 
application  in  reading,  and  intense  thinking,  in  order  to 
digest  a  subject  so  dithcult  and  interesting,  which  has  for 
years  appalled  the  best  talents  of  the  state,  has  become  a 
burthen  almost  too  much  to  bear.  Mr.  H.  D.  Ward  is  now 
with  us ;  he  assists  me  in  copying  my  bills." 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  January  17, 1824  :  "  I  am  much  engaged 
on  the  revenue  laws,  and  hope  to  be  able  to  report  the 
second  bill  this  day,  which  will,  I  trust,  give  me  some 
small  respite.  You  know  when  my  mind  is  intensely  en- 
gaged, I  can  neither  eat  nor  sleep.  One  cup  of  coffee  in 
the  morning,  one  of  tea  at  supper,  with  little  else,  and  an 
equally  light  dinner,  has  been  the  way  I  have  lived  for 
several  weeks.  I  regret  that  I  undertook  this  immense 
labor.  I  despair  of  ettecting  the  passage  of  these  laws 
this  session,  but  some  good  may,  hereafter,  grow  out  of 
bringing  the  subject  fairly  and  fully  before  the  public." 

On  the  19th  of  January  he  again  writes  to  Mrs.  Cutler : 
"  I  am  still  occupied  with  the  revenue  system.  It  is  a  load 
I  am  entirely  insulticient  to  sustain.  If  I  had  more  sensi- 
bility I  should  undoubtedly  sink  under  it.  For  one  per- 
son, alone,  to  attempt  to  change  the  whole  revenue  system 
of  a  great  and  powerful  state,  almost  without  a  hint  from 
another,  and  to  have  the  temerity  to  think  that  his  crude 
and,  perhaps,  badly  digested  notions  can  be  made  to  suc- 
ceed, may  well  be  considered  by  a  sober,  reflecting  mind 


142  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

to  border  on  madness.  Your  husband  has  undertaken  this 
unpromising  thing,  and  that  he  feels  the  pressure  of  such 
a  '  mountain'  you  may  well  imagine.  I  am  encouraged  by 
believing  that  the  cause  is  one  of  the  highest  importance 
to  my  country,  and  that  from  its  success  great  benefits  will 
result,  in  relieving  the  poor  from  their  burdens,  by  provid- 
ing an  equitable  way  to  call  forth  the  revenue  of  the  state, 
and  thus  provide  for  the  support  of  schools  and  seminaries 
of  learning;  and  for  making  roads,  canals,  etc.  These 
reflections  sustitin  me,  and  I  am  certain  that  the  system 
will  prevail.  Yes,  hereafter,  some  man  of  talents  will 
seize  on  the  track  tliat  your  husband  has  had  the  boldness 
to  point  out,  and  will  pursue  it,  and  claim  high  applause 
for  his  success." 

Again,  January  25,  1824:  "I  have  reported  three  bills 
relating  to  the  revenue  system,  and  am  now  preparing  a 
fourth.  I  do  not  know  but  they  will  all  be  negatived,  but 
I  shall  have  done  my  duty,  and  a  laborious  duty  it  has 
been,  indeed.  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  see,  and  to  know, 
that  my  labors  are  approved  by  many,  and  of  these  a  good 
number  are  among  the  best  in  this  legislative  body.  I 
have  this  evening  met  with  the  school  committee,  who 
have  agreed  to  report  a  very  long  bill  on  the  subject,  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Piatt.  This,  and  the  revenue  bills,  must 
consume  much  time,  and  we  have  our  table  covered  with 
a  great  number  of  others.  We,  however,  are  all  very  in- 
dustrious ;  I  am  every  moment  employed.  I  have  taken 
part  in  no  debates  but  such  as  were  of  an  interesting  char- 
acter to  our  own  section  of  country. 

"Mr.  Skinner  makes  an  excellent  member;  he  agrees 
with  me  in  things  of  general  interest,  as  yet,  and  in  future 
will,  I  think,  continue  to  do  so." 

The  last  letter  written  to  Mrs.  Cutler  during  this  session 
is  dated  February  12,  1824  : 

'■'  I  forget  when  I  wrote  last.  I  recollect  I  was  over- 
charged with  cares  and  troubles  at  the  time.  These  mat- 
ters will  be  themes  for  discussion  between  us,  if  Providence 
kindly  permits  me  to  return  to  my  home  once  more.  I 
feel  that  but  little  of  what  I  hoped  will  be  realized  this 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  143 

session.  I  have  toiled  by  night  and  by  day,  and  fear  I 
shall  have  to  say  in  the  end  '  nothing  is  canght.'  My  dis- 
appointment respecting  the  appropriation  for  the  Ohio 
University  was  great.  I  had  my  expectations  raised,  and 
felt  much  regret  at  seeing  them  dashed  to  the  ground, 
principally  for  want  of  support  from  our  part  of  the  state 
in  the  house  of  representatives.  I  am  exceedingly  anx- 
ious to  be  at  home,  and  hope  that  I  shall  be  by  the  28th 
of  this  month." 

Among  the  letters  received  this  winter  by  Judge  Cutler 
worthy  of  preservation,  which  exhibit  some  of  the  defi- 
ciencies of  the  tax  system  then  in  use,  is  one  from  David 
Putnam,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  of  intelligence,  and  largely  in- 
terested in  lands  as  an  owner,  and  as  agent  for  non-resi- 
dent proprietors.     It  is  here  given  : 

"  Marietta,  IQth  December,  1823. 

"  Dear  Sir — I  transmit  to  you  a  list  of  lands  in  Wash- 
ington county,  advertised  by  the  auditor  as  delinquent  for 
taxes  prior  to  the  year  1820,  on  which  judgments  are  to  be 
moved  for  at  the  next  term  of  our  court,  which  I  believe 
you  will  think,  with  me,  is  an  extraordinary  document. 
My  object  in  sending  you  this  is  with  the  hope  that  the 
legislature  will  interfere  and  stop  this  proceeding  before 
it  be  too  late;  and  before  the  state,  the  county,  and  indi- 
viduals shall  become  involved  in  a  labyrinth  of  useless 
and  vexatious  costs  and  perplexities.  By  the  proceeding, 
the  state  will  gain  neither  land  nor  money.  The  county 
is  a  loser  already.  If  individuals  have  not  so  much  com- 
mon sense  as  to  keep  their  lingers  out  of  the  fire,  the  leg- 
islature, as  the  common  guardian,  ought  to  protect  them 
against  harm.  A  few  suppositions  will  show  the  proceed- 
ing to  be  a  preposterous  measure. 

"  Suppose  the  auditor  should  proceed  (as  by  law  he  is 
required]  to  obtain  judgments  on  this  list  of  cases,  amount- 
ing to  550,  and  then  the  court  should  tax  the  costs  in  the 
several  cases  as  the  court  in  Highland  county  has  done, 
viz:  $5.75  each — these  costs  will  have  accrued  by  law,  ac- 
cording to  the  judgment  of  the  court.     Somebody  ought 


144  Life  of-  Mphrarm  Cutler. 

to  pay  them.  Will  the  state  pay  them?  Every  man  will 
say,  no.  Shall  the  county  pay  them?  We  are  not  a  party 
to  the  suit,  and  therefore  say,  no.  Shall  the  lands  be  made 
to  pay  them?  They  will  not  be  worth  the  taxes  and  costs. 
Shall  the  auditor  and  clerk  of  court  perform  the  duty 
gratis?  They  will  say  they  work  for  their  bread,  and  that 
a  laborious  office  without  pay  will  not  fill  their  bellies. 
Well,  nobody  will  pay  them ;  they  must  therefore  be  ob- 
tained from  the  land,  or  lost. 

"  Suppose,  again,  that  judgments  are  obtained  for  amount 
of  taxes  and  costs;  the  auditor  is  to  sell  the  land  (if  he 
can)  for  the  amount;  but  if  no  person  will  bid  the  whole 
amount,  the  land  is  not  to  be  sold,  but  '  shall  be  consid- 
ered as  forfeited  to  the  state,  and  shall  become  the  prop- 
erty of  the  State  of  Ohio,'  says  the  law.  We,  the  people, 
think  not.  When  the  English  admiral  at  Newport  threat- 
ened to  hang  okl  Commodore  Wliipple  at  the  yard-arm, 
the  commodore  replied,  '  Catch  a  man  before  you  hang 
him.' 

"  Suppose,  again,  that  the  taxes  on  three-fourths  of  these 
lands  have  been  paid  (which,  I  presume,  is  the  case),  is  the 
real  owner,  who  has  the  collector's  receipts  for  the  taxes 
in  his  pocket,  bound  by  any  law  of  this  state,  or  of  com- 
mon sense,  to  carry  these  receipts  to  court  and  show  them 
to  the  auditor  in  order  to  protect  his  land  against  an  un- 
lawful claim? 

"  Suppose  Lydia  Bliss,  the  widow  in  this  list,  to  protect 
her  half  acre  and  little  cabin,  should  have  the  presumption 
to  meet  the  auditor  in  court  and  contest  the  claim  of  the 
state  to  their  fourteen  cents  tax,  alleging  she  had  paid  it. 
The  law  says  the  court  may  summon  a  jur}^  to  try  the 
same.  And  suppose  at  the  trial  the  widow  should  pro- 
duce the  collector's  or  the  auditor  of  state's  receipt  for  the 
tax,  would  she  be  acquitted  from  any  charge  ?  No ;  the 
law  says  that  each  member  of  the  jury,  on  the  rendition 
of  their  verdict,  shall  receive  the  sum  of  fifty  cents,  to  be 
paid  by  the  defendant.  In  this  case  the  widow,  guilty  or 
not  guilty,  she  must  pay  six  dollars.     Y^ou  remember  the 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  145 

decision  of  our  old  friend,  Justice  Brough,  who  rendered 
judgment  for  the  costs  against  the  witness  in  the  case. 

''  Suppose,  again,  that  Lydia  should  not  appear  in  court 
and  exhibit  her  receipts  for  the  taxes;  the  auditor  would 
obtain  judgment,  and  proceed  to  sell  the  widow's  cottage 
and  premises ;  and  some  person  eager  for  a  speculation 
should  bid  off  the  whole  half  acre,  and  then  brinff  his 
ejectment  to  oust  the  widow.  Would  she  not,  on  the  trial, 
be  permitted  to  show  the  collector's  or  state  auditor's  re- 
ceipt for  the  tax,  and  thereby  show  that  the  proceedings 
and  sale  by  the  auditor  were  void  ah  initio  ?  And  to  whom 
would  this  sharp-sighted  speculator  resort  to  recover  back 
his  money?  The  state  would  say,  that  we  provided  by 
the  fifth  section  that  we  would  pay  nothing.  You  bought 
the  widow  ;  you  must  take  her,  better  or  worse.  By  hook 
and  by  crook  we  got  our  fourteen  cents,  which  is  all  we 
demanded.  Caveat  emptor,  you  may  whistle  for  your  specu- 
lation. 

"  But  to  be  a  little  more  serious  on  this  really  serious  mat- 
ter. This  whole  law  which  goes  to  levy  and  collect  an  annual 
tax  from  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  the 
3'ear  1819 — twenty  years  (for  the  legislature,  by  enacting 
this  law,  hav«  virtually  abandoned  all  their  rights  by  the 
laws  by  which  the  tax  was  created),  is  a  burlesque  on  leg- 
islative enactments  ;  and  if  the  proceedings  are  persevered 
in  will  bring  the  state  into  contempt  among  her  sisters. 

"  But  what  is  the  state  to  gain  ?  In  this  county,  I  will 
venture  to  say,  not  one-quarter  of  the  amount  of  the  costs 
that  will  arise  can  be  made  by  the  sale  of  the  land.  Who, 
that  has  any  regard  to  the  title  which  can  be  acquired  un- 
der this  law,  would  buy  the  land?  If  our  state  courts 
should  be  so  obsequious  as  to  carry  into  effect  a  law  con- 
taining such  novel  principles  as  abrogate  the  universally 
established  principles  of  judicial  proceedings,  merely  be- 
cause the  legislature  has  enacted  it,  thereby  acknowledg- 
ing themselves  not  a  co-ordinate,  but  a  subordinate  branch 
of  the  government,  which  I  hope  they  will  never  do ;  still 
there  will  be  left,  especially  to  the  non-resident  proprietor, 
10 


146  Life  of  Ephrahii  Cutler. 

recourse  to  the  United  States  courts.  And  what  lawyer 
woukl  hazard  his  reputation  by  advising  an  ejectment  on 
a  title  acquired  by  this  law  in  those  courts? 

"And,  as  it  respects  this  county,  another  thing  ought  to 
be  considered  :  the  county,  instead  of  acquiring  any  thing 
by  a  portion  of  the  state  tax,  will  be  brought  in  debt  by 
this  system.  From  1820  to  1823,  the  county  receives, 
nominally,  25  and  20  per  cent  of  the  state  tax.  I  will 
send  you  a  document  which  the  auditor  gave  me,  from 
which  it  appears  that  for  the  years  1820,  '21,  '22,  and  '23, 
the  county's  proportion  of  the  tax  is  $1,099,243.  In  the 
same  years  the  county  will  pay,  merely  on  account  of  the 
expense  of  the  state  tax,  $1,129.09.  The  county's  propor- 
tion of  the  state  tax  is  calculated  after  deducting  the 
defalcations  on  the  state  and  road  tax.  The  expenses 
paid  are"  the  auditor's  services  only,  about  the  tax  and 
printing. 

"  I  really  wish  this  subject  could  be  investigated  ;  I  pre- 
sume there  are  other  counties  in  a  similar  predicament. 
The  people  are  put  to  a  great  and  unnecessary  expense 
without  any  advantage  arising  from  it. 

"  I  believe  if  the  state  would  abandon  all  the  arrearages 
of  taxes,  it  would  be  a  saving  to  the  treasury  and  the  peo- 
ple. If  the  system  is  not  abandoned  you  may  try  almost 
any  thing,  you  can  not,  without  a  good  deal  of  ingenuity, 
make  it  worse. 

"At  the  printing  office  to-day,  I  found  a  number  of  ad- 
vertisements of  county  auditors  for  sale  of  lands  on  judg- 
ments obtained  under  this  extraordinary  law.  I  was 
struck  with  the  diversity  of  bills  of  costs  taxed  by  the 
courts  in  these  land  judgments.  The  costs,  in  each  case, 
were  taxed  as  follows,  namely :  Eoss  county,  $1.51 ;  Perry 
county,  $2.61  ;  Scioto,  $1.76  ;  Champaign,  $1.91 ;  High- 
land (properly  named),  $5.17.  These  are  judgments  of  the 
respective  courts,  irreeersible,  for  the  law  says  there  shall 
be  no  appeal  or  writ  of  error.  Will  the  legislature  suffer 
all  these  absurdities,  contradictions,  and,  I  may  add,  legal- 
ized oppressions  to  pass  before  them  without  an  investiga- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  147 

tion,  and  without  an  attempt  to  correct  tlie  procedure? 
Your  obedient  servant,  D.  Putnam." 

The  gross  injustice  and  inequalities  of  the  system  of 
taxation  in  Ohio,  as  Mr.  Cutler  found  it  when  he  began 
his  efforts  for  reformation,  may  be  shown  by  a  statement 
which  he  compiled  at  the  time  from  official  records.  The 
United  States  law,  passed  during  the  war  of  1812,  was  the 
first  and  only  application  of  the  ad  valorem  principle  of 
taxation  made  in  Ohio.  The  returns,  made  in  1815,  of  the 
assessors  appointed  under  that  law,  afford  a  fair  estimate 
of  actual  values  as  then  existing  in  different  parts  of  the 
state.     By  these  returns 

Hamilton  county  was  valued  at $5,604,636 

Butler  "  "         "         "  2,471,888 

Warren        "  "         "         " 2,574,538 

Making  a  total  valuation  for  the  three  counties. .$10, 651, 062 

By  the  same  returns  of  the  United  States  assessors : 

Athens  county  was  valued  at $517,182 

Gallia  "         "         "        " 533,320 

Washington  "         "        "  705,538 

Making  a  total  valuation  for  the  three  counties.. $1,756, 040 

If  the  United  States  direct  tax  had  been  collected  ac- 
cording to  valuation,  the  share  of  taxes  for  Hamilton, 
Butler,  and  Warren  would  have  been  (at  the  rate  of  one 
mill  and  67-100  on  a  total  valuation  of  $61,347,216)  $17,- 
915,  and  the  proper  share  of  Athens,  Gallia,  and  Washing- 
ton would  have  been  $2,952.  But  the  wealthy  counties 
had  influence  enouo;h  in  the  legislature  to  have  the  state 
pay  the  United  States  taxes  by  raising  the  amount  in 
loans,  and  collect  it,  subsequently,  off"  the  counties  under 
the  old  system  of  first,  second,  and  third  rates  of  lands. 
The  result  was  that  the  rich  counties  of  Hamilton,  Butler, 
and  Warren  actually  paid  only  $5,735,  while  the  poorer 
counties  of  Athens,  Gallia,  and  Washington  paid  $8,397 
of  the  United  States  tax. 


148  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

The  explanation  for  this  gross  inequality  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  in  1821  Hamilton  county  paid,  under  the  rate 
system,  only  $1,861  into  the  state  treasury,  while  Wash- 
ington county  paid  $2,166.  One  of  the  arguments  urged 
by  Mr.  Cutler  for  a  better  system  was  that  the  cities  where 
there  was  the  largest  concentration  of  population  and 
wealth  required  the  protection  of  efficient  laws  to  a  greater 
extent  than  sparsely  settled  farming  communities.  He 
presented  the  following  illustration :  Hamilton  county 
drew  out  of  the  state  treasury  $4,087  for  judicial,  crim- 
inal, and  legislative  expenses,  and  paid  in  $1,861 ;  Huron 
county  drew  out  for  the  same  expenses  $662,  and  paid  in 
$2,490. 

1^0  plan  or  system  had  been  proposed,  no  efficient  effort 
made  to  correct  these  inequalities,  until  Mr.  Cutler  under- 
took the  task  in  behalf  of  his  oppressed  constituents.  The 
wealthy  portions  of  the  state  were  content  to  enjoy  their 
advantages ;  they  had  the  legislative  power  in  their  own 
hands,  hence  the  strong  opposition  he  lirst  met  with. 
Probably  the  principal  motive  that  brought  them  to  his 
assistance  is  to  be  found  in  the  support  that  his  plan  of 
taxation  would  give  to  the  credit  of  the  state  abroad:  To 
build  canals  they  must  have  foreign  capital.  The  ad  val- 
orem system  of  taxation,  passed  in  1825,  after  years  of 
arduous  labor  by  its  author,  was  the  true  basis  of  that 
public  credit  which  has  given  to  Ohio  her  proud  pre-emi- 
nence ever  since. 

Mr.  Nahum  Ward'-^"  writes  to  Mr.  Cutler  from  Marietta, 
January  6,  1824 : 

*Nahum  Ward,  Esq.,  was  born  in  Shrewsbury,  Mass.,  October  23, 
1785,  and  was  a  grand-son  of  Major-General  Artemus  Ward,  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary Army.  Mr.  Ward  came  to  Ohio  in  1<S09,  and  in  1811  settled 
at  Marietta.  He  soon  became  largely  identified  with  the  landed  inter- 
ests of  south-eastern  Ohio;  about  1824,  he  owned  37,000  acres  of  land 
in  Washington  and  the  adjacent  counties,  and  during  his  life  in  Mari- 
etta the  title  of  more  than  100,000  acres  of  land,  in  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany's Purchase,  was  vested  in  him.  He  was  an  enterprising  public- 
spirited  citizen,  a  man  of  refined,  cultured  taste,  and  dignified,  courtly 
manners.  He  died  in  Marietta  April  6,  1860.  (History  Washington 
County.) 


Life  of  EpJiraim.  Cutler.  149 

"  I  am  extremely  happy  to  see,  by  the  papers  of  Colum- 
bus, the  many  strong  movements  you  are  making  for  a 
reformation  in  the  affairs  of  the  state.  The  revenue  sys- 
tem, as  it  now  stands,  is  most  unjust  and  oppressive  on 
this  section  of  the  country,  and  it  is  a  fact  that,  unless  some 
measure  for  relief  is,  by  the  present  legislature,  adopted  to 
enable  and  compel  every  man  to  pay  according  to  what  he 
possesses,  I,  for  one,  must  abandon  my  lands  to  the  state, 
for  I  can  not  pay  the  enormous  tax.  I  can  state  to  you  as 
a  fact  (but  this  is  wholly  unnecessary  with  you),  that  640 
acres  of  land  one  mile  from  Cincinnati,  on  the  bank  of 
the  Ohio,  in  the  narrows,  that  will  sell  for  cash  at  $50  per 
acre,  pays  no  more  tax  than  section  31,  town  3,  range  15, 
of  640  acres,  for  which  I  would  be  glad  to  receive  twenty 
cents  per  acre,  and  make  as  good  a  title  as  can  be  made, 
which  shows  at  once  that  I  pay  as  much  tax  on  $128  as 
my  friend  in  Cincinnati  pays  on  $32,000.  I  know  that  re- 
dress may  be  had  by  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  but  that  I  can  not  do. 

"  I  do  believe  most  sincerely  that  the  state  taxes  that 
have  been  paid  on  at  least  one-half  the  lands  of  the  Ohio 
Company's  Purchase  for  the  last  seven  years  would,  at  this 
day,  purchase  the  land  from  the  owners. 

"And  then,  again,  we  not  only  have  to  pay  the  regular 
assessed  tax,  but  are  brought  in  for  most  grievous  bills 
from  the  county  auditors  for  schedules  and  printing  of 
delinquent  lands  returned  by  the  auditor  of  state,  when, 
upon  examination  of  the  books,  it  is  found  the  collectors 
have  given  receipts,  and  nothing  is  due.  Even  the  great 
Ralph  Osburne  himself  has  given  receipts  for  taxes,  and 
then  turned  'round  and  said  to  the  public,  '  I  will  sell  this 
land  for  taxes.'  I  iiave,  in  the  county  of  Meigs,  above 
2,700  acres  of  land  advertised  in  the  papers  for  sale,  on 
which  the  taxes  have  been  paid,  and  I  have  the  collector's 
certificates  in  my  office.  This  land  I  transferred  myself 
in  the  auditor's  office  in  Columbus,  in  1818.  Shall  I  be 
compelled  to  travel  down  to  Meigs,  forty  miles,  and  hunt 
up  the  auditor  of  the  county,  and  show  him  my  receipts, 
or  let  them  go  on  and  get  judgment  against  my  land  and 


150  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

sell  it?  I  shall  write  to  the  auditor  of  Meigs  county,  but 
not  go  one  inch  to  show  my  receipts.  It  is  enough  for  me 
to  pay  my  taxes  annually,  without  exhibiting  my  receipts 
to  serve  a  blunderhead  at  Columbus. 

"  I  beg  for  God's  sake,  and  yours  and  mine,  together 
with  all  honest  men's,  that  you  will  bring  about  a  new 
system  of  revenue  upon  something  of  a  rational  footing. 
If  some  redress  is  not  had,  I  can  not,  and  will  not  suffer 
in  this  way.  I  will  decline  to  pay  taxes  on  poor  lands 
hereafter." 

Again,  Mr.  Ward  writes  to  the  same  on  February  6, 
1824 : 

"  I  am  much  gratified  in  seeing,  by  the  public  prints, 
that  your  new  revenue  system  is  about  to  be  laid  before 
the  people.  I  pray  most  earnestly  and  fervently,  that  it 
may  be  accepted  by  the  assembly,  and  prove  satisfactory 
to  all  classes  of  society,  for  the  honor  of  the  state,  and  the 
g-entleman  who  dared  to  take  such  a  burthen  on  his  shoul- 
ders.  I  am,  as  you  know,  deeply  interested  in  the  fate  of 
your  bill." 

The  next  session  of  the  general  assembly  of  Ohio  began 
at  Columbus  on  Monday,  December  6,  1824.  It  was  the 
last  of  which  Judge  Cutler  was  a  member.  He  took  his 
seat  December  7tli,  and  the  next  day  was  appointed  chair- 
man of  a  committee  of  three  to  examine  the  journals  of 
the  last  session,  and  report  the  unfinished  business  of  the 
senate,  from  which  committee  he  reported  December  11th : 

"A  bill  to  provide  for  the  regulation  and  support  of  com- 
mon schools." 

"A  bill  to  provide  for  the  valuation  of  lands  and  real 
estate." 

"A  bill  to  provide  for  listing  and  valuing  personal  estate 
for  taxation." 

The  last  two  of  these  bills  were  referred  to  "  the  joint 
committee  of  finance,"  appointed  to  take  into  considera- 
tion "  so  much  of  the  governor's  message  as  relates  to  the 
finances  of  the  state." 

The  senate  journal  does  not  giv^e  the  names  of  the  four 
members  of  the  senate  who  were  placed  on  this  joint  com- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  151 

mittee,  which  was  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  ses- 
sion. From  letters  written  during  the  winter,  it  appears 
that  Mr.  Cutler  and  Mr.  Wheeler,  of  Ashtabula  and 
Geauga,  were  two  of  the  number ;  probably  Mr.  Bucking- 
ham, of  Muskingum,  was  a  third,  but  the  fourth  is  not 
identified.  Those  on  the  part  of  the  house  were  Messrs. 
Worthington,  Case,  McCorkle,  Blickensderfer,  and  Cor- 
win. 

In  his  message  to  the  general  assembly,  Gov.  Morrow 
says:  "The  subjects  which  will  claim  the  princi})al  share 
of  your  attention  at  the  present  session,  undoubtedly,  will 
be  the  project  of  the  contemplated  canal  from  Lake  Erie 
to  the  Ohio  River;  and  in  connection  with  it  the  revenue 
system  and  general  fiscal  concerns  of  the  state."  Of  the 
canal  he  says:  "The  advantages  being  unquestionable, 
and  the  natural  practicability  of  the  work  being  satisfac- 
torily ascertained,  the  subject  thus  far  presents  itself  in  a 
favorable  aspect  to  the  legislature."  But  he  adds,  "  how- 
ever beneficial  the  improvement  may  be  when  completed, 
and  to  whatever  degree  of  certainty  its  practicability,  with 
the  application  of  proper  means,  may  be  reduced;  still, 
unless  a  fund  real  and  adequate  to  the  object  be  provided, 
it  can  not  be  carried  into  eft'ect." 

On  the  resources  of  the  state,  lie  makes  the  following 
remarks  and  suggestions:  "The  surplus  revenue,  on  the 
most  favorable  estimate,  is  a  fund  in  amount  much  below 
what  is  required  to  effect  the  object  in  view.  It  would  be 
hazardous  and  improvident  to  engage  in  an  enterprise,  re- 
quiring an  expenditure  of  several  millions,  and  a  period 
of  years  for  its  execution,  with  an  insufficient  provision 
for  funds.  A  ruinous  failure  in  the  undertaking  might 
ensue,  after  large  expenditures  had  been  incurred,  and  in 
case  of  eventual  success  the  burden  of  debt  would  be  exceed- 
ingly increased.  To  depend  on  loans  for  the  discharge  of 
interest  is  a  policy  that  no  prudent  government  will  resort 
to.  The  prospect  of  a  progressive  accumulation  of  debt, 
and  the  effect  of  a  profuse  policy  to  sink  the  public  credit, 
will  deter  the  most  adventurous  from  the  attempt.  It 
would  appear,  then,  from  any  calculation  of  the  amount 


152  Life  of  Lphraim  Cutler. 

of  anticipated  expenditure,  a  view  to  the  state  of  the  treas- 
ury, and  to  the  approved  principles  of  fiscal  policy  that 
ought  to  be  pursued,  that  provision  to  replenish  the  treas- 
ury is  indispensable ;  and  it  rests  with  the  legislature  alone 
to  authorize  a  grant  for  the  necessary  supplies. 

"No  question  is  entertained  of  the  capacity  of  the  state, 
with  suitable  exertion,  to  furnish  the  adequate  means,  and 
that  without  the  imposition  of  burthens  oppressive  to  the 
people.  It  is  believed  that  an  annual  tax  much  less  than 
what  was  paid  by  the  people  of  this  state,  in  direct  tax 
alone,  for  the  support  of  the  last  war,  would  be  sufficient, 
and  which,  to  the  honor  of  their  patriotism,  was  paid 
without  a  murmur.  It  is  admitted  the  call  was  more  im- 
perative and  the  means  more  abundant  than  at  present. 
National  rights  essential  to  its  independence  were  to  be 
defended,  and  the  means  for  contribution  were  furnished 
by  the  expenditure  of  the  war.  But  in  the  present  in- 
stance, too,  there  are  interests  of  high  merit  involved. 
Interests  which,  altliough  of  the  peaceful  kind,  warrant  a 
call  for  contribution,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  to  carry 
into  effect  the  object. 

"The  means  of  supply  to  constitute  a  fund  for  the  dis- 
charge of  interest  on  the  necessary  loans  will  be,  retrench- 
ment in  the  ordinary  expenditure,  increase  of  the  present 
taxes,  and  a  resort  to  new  objects  of  taxation.  The  pro- 
ducts to  the  fund  from  the  savings  by  retrenchment  can 
not  be  much  calculated  on.  Without  injury  to  the  public 
service,  they  will  be  too  inconsiderable  to  produce  much 
effect.  The  principal  reliance  must  be  placed  on  an  in- 
crease of  the  revenue.  It  is  therefore  respectfully  sub- 
mitted, the  propriety  of  providing  for  an  increase  of  the 
tax  on  the  several  rates  of  land,  at  least  to  the  same 
amount  that  was  charged  immediately  prior  to  the  last 
session  of  the  general  assembly,  and  that  the  whole  pro- 
ducts of  the  land  tax  be  made  payable  to  the  state  treasury 
for  state  purposes. 

"  That  a  tax  be  imposed  as  follows  :  On  judicial  process 
in  civil  cases ;  on  capital  employed  in  trade ;  on  pleasure 
and  travel  carriages;  on  brass  and  other  clocks ;  and  on 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  ISS^ 

gold  and  silver  watches ;  and  that  the  product  on  such 
taxes,  in  whole  or  in  part,  shall  be  made  payable  to  the 
county  treasury  of  the  respective  counties  wherein  the  tax 
is  levied.  That  all  moneys  which  have  accrued  and  are 
unexpended,  and  moneys  that  may  accrue  to  the  three  per 
cent  fund,  for  roads  (be,  with  the  consent  of  Congress),, 
appropriated  exclusively  in  aid  of  a  canal  fund;  and  that 
the  sections  of  land,  unsold,  in  the  reservation,  at  the 
Scioto  Salt  Works,  be  (with  the  consent  of  Congress)  dis- 
posed of  in  fee  simple,  and  the  proceeds  of  sale  appropri- 
ated to  the  same  fund. 

"From  this  proposed  increase  of  the  revenue  it  is  pre- 
sumed that,  after  the  charge  of  the  ordinary  expenses  of 
government,  funds  will  remain  to  discharge  the  interest 
on  such  loans  as  will  be  required  for  the  construction  of 
such  section  of  the  canal  as  would  in  itself  be  used,  and 
the  products  arising  thence,  be  brought  in  aid  of  the 
fund." 

The  governor,  in  his  message,  also  recommends  "  that 
provision  be  made  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  and,, 
in  particular,  for  the  regulation  and  support  of  common 
schools." 

These  extracts  indicate  the  subjects  which  principally  oc- 
cupied the  attention  of  the  legislature  during  the  winter 
of  1824-5.  Mr.  Cutler  writes,  soon  after  his  arrival  at 
Columbus,  to  Mrs.  Cutler:  "I  am  located  again  at  Dr. 
Goodale's.  I  iind  many  new  faces  ;  there  are  onlv  ten  old 
members  in  the  house.  I  expect  a  laborious  and  arduous 
winter,  but  the  legislature  manifest  a  disposition  to  have 
a  short  session.  The  canal,  and  a  system  of  revenue,  are 
the  absorbing  subjects  ;  their  fate  is  intimately  connected, 
and  will  probably  be  considered  inseparable.  I  am  cer- 
tain we  can  obtain  some  relief  from  the  burden  of  taxa- 
tion, and  shall  endeavor  to  make  the  sum  considerable  for 
my  constituents." 

December  17,  1824,  he  writes:  "I  had  the  satisfaction,, 
last  evening,  to  find  the  committee  of  finance,  of  which  I 
am  a  member,  agree  to  the  substance  of  my  propositions 
for  changing  the  whole  revenue  system,  and  adopting  an 


154  Life  of  Ephrai)n   Cutler. 

equal  one  of  taxing  people  according  to  their  property, 
and  have  a  strong  hope  it  will  become  a  law  when  it  is 
matured.  In  the  senate,  I  have  reason  to  believe,  the  ma- 
jority in  its  favor  will  be  respectable. 

"  The  canal  engages  much  attention.  The  commission- 
ers have  not  reported,  but  have  determined  to  come  down 
the  Muskingum  nearly  to  Zanesville ;  then  across  to  the 
Scioto,  and  down  that  river  to  its  mouth.  There  will  also 
be  a  canal  constructed  from  Davton  to  Cincinnati.  Few 
other  subjects  of  a  general  nature  will  be  acted  upon  this 
session,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  very  short.  The  members 
who  board  at  Dr.  Goodale's  are  Dr.  Cotton,  Judge  Norton, 
Mr.  Coleman,  and  Mr.  Hubbard,  all  of  whom  I  like.  They 
are  all  Yankees,  and  we  agree  on  general  subjects,  which 
has  been  very  imY)ortant  in  assisting  to  bring  the  advocates 
of  the  canal  to  the  ad  valorem  system." 

December  28,  1824.  To  Mrs.  Cutler :  "  I  am  gratified 
with  the  belief  that  the  favorite  wish  of  my  heart,  the 
plan  for  an  equal  system  of  taxation,  will  prevail  this  ses- 
sion. Mr.  Buckingham,  with  whom  I  had  some  sparring 
last  winter,  boards  here ;  he  has  treated  me  with  great 
attention,  and  has  come  over,  and  is  now  a  zealous  sup- 
porter of  all  my  views.  He  has  become  a  warm  advocate 
of  the  new  revenue  system,  and  has  taken  a  very  forward 
part  in  its  support,  and  feels  as  though  he  deserves  great 
credit,  which  I  have  freely  accorded  to  him.  The  new 
members  of  the  senate  are  also  friendly  to  my  views ;  of 
these,  Mr.  Guilford,  who  is  a  fine  man,  is  a  most  efiicient 
supporter  of  the  ad  valorem  and  school  systems. 

"  I  have  just  attended  a  meeting  of  our  committee  of 
finance,  and  am  pleased  to  find  in  all  harmonious  and  zeal- 
ous co-operation.  Mr.  Case  and  Mr.  Wheeler  are  the  sub- 
committee to  report  the  several  bills  for  our  tax  system. 
We  have  been  most  industriously  employed  for  some  time, 
and  shall  soon  have  them  read}^  to  act  upon.  I  have  made 
one  speecti  in  favor  of  the  old  revolutionary  soldiers,  on 
the  proposition  to  exempt  certain  property  belonging  to 
them  from  execution,  and  themselves  from  imprisonment 
for  debt.     I,  this  evening,  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Vin- 


Life  of  Ephraim.  Cutler.  155 

ton,  in  which  he  urges  me  to  persevere  in  my  plan  of  tax- 
ation, wliich  gives  me  some  pleasure." 

The  speech  in  favor  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution 
was  reported  in  the  newspapers  at  the  time : 

"  Mr.  Cutler  said  he  had  intended  to  give  a  silent  vote 
on  this  question.  He  had  not  anticipated  that  any  want 
of  gratitude,  or  any  vanity  of  speech-making,  could  pos- 
sibly interfere  with  the  just  indulgence  proposed  to  be 
granted  to  the  warriors  of  the  Revolution.  But  he  per- 
ceived he  was  mistaken  in  his  conjectures,  and  he  now 
begged  for  himself  the  indulgence  of  the  senate  while  he 
spoke  a  few  words  on  the  subject. 

"  He  was  not  at  all  surprised  that  those  who  had  been 
nursed  in  the  bosom  of  despotism,  and  after  their  weaning 
liad  joined  with  us  in  a  better  kind  of  government,  should 
exhibit  a  predilection  to  the  pap  they  had  sucked.  In 
order  to  divest  a  man  of  such  relics  of  improper  education, 
it  was  necessary  that  he  should  accompany  a  Washington 
or  a  Bolivar  in  the  rescue  of  a  nation  from  slavery.  But 
in  the  name  of  the  God  of  mercy,  the  great  origin  of  in- 
telligence, he  would  ask  if  it  were  possible  that  any  man 
born  in  the  United  States  of  America  since  the  mental 
murder  of  James  Otis  by  the  cut-throats  of  Great  Britain 
— since  the  bursting  forth  of  the  sacred  determination  to 
freedom — could  hold  a  hard  hand  over  the  actors  in  that 
perilous  emancipation  of  our  country.  He  was  fearful  he 
might  speak  too  warmly  ;  but  considerations  of  the  holiest 
character  that  could  be  connected  with  the  achievement 
of  a  free  government  constantly  impelled  him  to  warmth 
of  expression,  whenever  the  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
services  of  the  soldiers,  and  kindness  toward  the  procurers 
of  our  liberty,  are  called  in  question. 

"  He  begged  the  gentlemen  to  notice  the  progress  of 
LaFayette  through  our  country;  they  would  see  in  it  an 
indisputable  exhibition  of  American  feeling  on  this  subject. 
That  man,  he  said,  had  commenced  his  career  in  boyhood 
under  the  arm  of  Washington,  and  following  the  princi- 
ples of  his  illustrious  preceptor  through  a  long  life,  now 


156  Life  of  Ej)hraim  Cutler. 

comes  back  to  the  tomb  at  Mount  Vernon — to  the  urn 
which  holds  the  ashes  of  his  friend  and  father  in  the  dis- 
Bemination  of  the  principles  of  liberty — with  the  blessed 
intelligence  that  the  hope  of  man,  through  our  example, 
is  looking  for  better  days ;  that  our  example  has  shaken 
with  terror  the  throne  of  every  despot  of  tiie  civilized 
world.  But  at  the  same  time  he  shows  that  in  the  dread- 
ful contention  he  has  been  subjected  to  the  same  bruises 
of  fortune  which  this  bill  is  intended,  measurably,  to  heal 
in  the  withered  bodies  of  his  early  companions.  Can  any 
one  hesitate  ?  Can  the  just  interference  be  suffered  to  die 
upon  your  table? 

"  He  scorned  to  go  into  detail  on  such  a  subject — a  sub- 
ject wherein  the  suggestion  of  a  doubt  amounts  to  treason 
toward  every  principle  of  patriotism  extant  in  the  world. 
He  scorned  to  examine  arguments  in  opposition  to  this 
bill,  although  he  knew  it  had  been  said  that,  where  this 
bill  would  relieve  an  hundred  necessitous  soldiers  of  the 
Revolution,  there  was  a  danger  that  it  might  give  a  need- 
less privilege  to  one  in  affluent  circumstances.  Do  gentle- 
men, indeed,  wish  that  we  should  follow  our  retreating 
soldiers  through  New  Jersev,  in  that  darkest  and  most 
forlorn  winter  of  the  war,  and  scientitically  gauge  the 
puddles  of  blood  shed  from  their  shoeless  feet;  and  then, 
by  the  butcher's  rules,  reckon  up  the  compensation 
due? 

"  It  should  be  recollected  in  what  station  we  stand 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth — how  broad  an  angle 
we  occupy  in  the  gaze  of  mankind.  Every  liberal  heart 
is  pouring  out  its  applause  and  its  hopes  upon  us.  Let  us- 
not  deceive  the  world's  expectation.  Let  us  avoid  the 
stinginess  of  the  Jew,  as  well  as  the  unsteadiness  of  the 
Gentile.  Let  us  lay  down  with  irremovable  fastness  the 
maxim,  which  Greece  never  had,  and  Rome  soon  lost,  that 
the  soldier  of  tVeedom  shall  never,  from  want  of  national 
gratitude,  be  compelled  in  old  age  to  become  a  beggar. 
Let  us  fix  this  principle  as  a  platform  for  patriotism  to 
arm  itself  upon." 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler,  157 

The  letter  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  F.  Vinton,*  to  which  Mr. 
Cutler  refers  in  his  letter  of  Decemher  28th,  is  dated 
"Washington,  Decemher  21,  1824,"  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  We  yesterday  received  Gov.  Morrow's  message,  as 
well  as  the  account  of  the  organization  of  the  legislature. 
This  document  is  thouglit  pretty  well  of  here,  inasmuch 
as  it  seems  to  present  in  its  true  character  the  canal  ques- 
tion, which  is  one  of  deep  interest  to  the  state.  Upon  the 
all-important  matter  of  means,  he  takes  strong  ground  in 
recommending  tax  upon  tax.  If  tlie  people  are  prepared 
to  be  taxed,  then  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  resources  of  the 
state ;  if  they  will  not  endure  the  necessary  taxation, 
then  the  disastrous  consequences  pointed  out  by  the  gov- 
ernor would  seem  to  be  the  necessary  result.  We  ought 
to  ofier  up  our  most  unceasing  prayers  that  your  plan  for 
the  equalization  of  taxes  may  be  at  the  same  time  adopted. 
Without  it,  inevitable  ruin  would  await  the  sparse  peopled 
and  sterile  parts  of  the  state.  In  fact,  those  parts  of  the 
state  will  be  virtually  ruined  under  the  present  system  of 
taxation  in  defraying  the  ordinary  expenses  of  govern- 
ment. 

"Ingenuity,  in  my  opinion,  could  not  devise  a  system 
more  unequal,  unjust,  and  oppressive.  I  am  decidedly  in 
favor  of  improving  the  inland  navigation  of  the  state  by 
canals,  if  possible;  but  I  hope  you  will  perseveringly 
press  upon  the  legislature  your  plan  of  taxation  in  con- 
junction with  it. 

"The  bill  for  the  sale  of  the  Salt  Reservations  passed 


*Hon.  Samuel  Finley  Vmton.  b'lm  at  South  Hadley,  Mass.,  Sep- 
tember 25,  1792;  graduated  at  Williams  Colle>:e  in  1814;  studied  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1816,  when  he  removed  to  Ohio,  set- 
tled at  Gallipolis,  and  practiced  hi-  profession  witli  eminent  success. 
He  was  elected  a  repiesentative  in  Congress  in  18-3,  and  served  four- 
teen years,  when  he  declined  a  re-election.  In  1843  he  again  became 
a  member  of  Congress  and  was  continued  eight  years  in  succession, 
when,  of  his  own  ctioice,  he  retired  to  private  lile  During  the  twenty- 
two  years  of  his  public  service,  h^•  was  chairman  of  some  of  the  most 
important  committees,  and  was  distinguished  lor  ability  and  integrity. 
In  politics  he  was  a  Whig.  He  died  at  Washington  City  in  May,  1862. 
(Lanman.) 


158  Life  of  Ejphraim   Cutler. 

our  house  the  other  day,  and  has  gone  into  the  senate, 
where  it  has  been  reported  by  the  committee  on  public 
lands,  without  amendment.  The  chairman  of  that  com- 
mittee assured  me  he  would  expedite  its  passage.  The 
bill  is  drawn  in  strict  conformity  to  the  memorial  of  Ohio, 
permitting  the  sale  only  upon  condition  of  investing  the 
proceeds  for  the  support  of  literature.  I  do  not  know 
what  effect  the  recommendation  of  Governor  Morrow  may 
have  upon  its  further  progress  here,  or  upon  the  Ohio  Leg- 
islature. But  I  shall  do  all  in  my  power  to  get  it  passed 
into  a  law  and  transmitted  to  Columbus  in  time  for  you  to 
act  upon  it  this  session.  I  hope  you  will  make  an  effort 
to  get  the  proceeds  appropriated  to  the  universities,  in 
which  I  know  you  will  take  as  good  care  as  possible  of 
the  one  at  Athens." 

Some  extracts  from  letters  written  by  gentlenlen  in  Ma- 
rietta will  now  be  given,  relating  to  subjects  claiming  the 
attention  of  the  legislature  during  the  winter  of  1824  and 
1825. 

Under  date  of  December  29,  1824,  Mr.  I^ahum  Ward 
writes  : 

"  I  avail  myself  of  the  moment  to  write  you  on  various 
subjects  that  will  come  before  the  legislature  at  its  present 
session,  some  of  which  I  feel  very  sensibly  must  affect  our 
citizens  in  the  Ohio  Company's  Purchase,  and,  your  hum- 
ble servant  in  a  very  particular  manner.  The  first  I  shall 
name  is,  the  whole  scope  and  tenor  of  the  governor's  mes- 
sage upon  the  subject  of  the  revenue.  Can  it  be  possible 
that  the  governor  is  of  opinion  that  we  will  sit  down 
calmly  and  coolly  under  taxes  up  to  the  war  prices  upon 
our  lands  for  canal  purposes?  That  the  road  tax,  which 
is  of  no  earthly  use  the  way  it  is  now  managed,  the  three 
per  cent  fund,  and  the  twenty  per  cent  for  county  purposes 
shall  all,  all  be  swallowed  up  in  this  canal  about  to  be 
built?  If  he  thinks  so  he  is  mistaken,  as  I  am  sure  the 
people  will  not  suffer  it.  As  one  of  the  citizens  of  the 
state,  I  will  not  pay  the  unjust  taxes  longer,  even  as  they 
have  been  levied  upon  lands.  I  can  not,  for  in  truth  I 
can  not  sell  of  the  best  lands  I  own  enough,  annually,  to 


Life  of  Eph^aim  Cutler.  159 

pay  the  unrighteous  tax  upon  the  poor  lands.  We  must 
have  a  system  different  from  the  past,  in  which  every  man 
can  pay  according  to  what  he  possesses,  or  I  am  ruined, 
and  that  forever!  Then,  do  tell  me  what  we,  as  counties, 
are  to  do  to  pay  our  expenses  ?  And  what  right  has  the 
legislature  to  take  from  the  roads  the  three  per  cent  fund  ? 
It  can  not  be,  and  thanks  to  the  powers  that  placed  it  in 
that  situation,  that  men  who  are  canal-mad  can  not 
touch  it. 

"  I  can  not  think  the  legislature  will  swallow  one-tenth, 
part  of  the  governor's  message ;  but  if  they  do,  the  state 
is  bankrupt  for  all  the  days  you  and  I  may  have  to  live  in 
it.  I  do  not  know  your  ideas  upon  many  of  these  things 
named,  but  have  the  utmost  coniidence  m  you,  that  you 
will  raise  your  voice  against  taxing  our  part  of  the  state 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  canal  that  will  never  pay 
three  per  cent,  and  will  be  of  no  service  to  the  counties  on 
the  Ohio.  It  does  not  follow,  of  course,  because  the  great 
State  of  New  York  has  succeeded  in  her  plans  that  we 
shall.  Some  ten  or  fifteen  years  hence  will  be-  fully  in 
time  for  us  to  go  into  this  grand  waste  of  money.  But  if 
we  must  go  into  it,  right  or  wrong,  do  for  heaven's  sake 
arrange  a  system  by  which  we  may  pay  an  ad  valorein  tax. 
"Why,  I  would  ask,  shall  the  land-owner  pay  for  the  trans- 
portation of  the  rich  merchant's  produce  ?  Was  such  a 
system  ever  heard  of  in  any  petty  tyrannical  power  in  the 
world,  as  the  one  recommended  by  our  wise  Governor 
Morrow  ? 

"  I  am  thankful  you  are  in  the  senate  of  our  state,  as 
one  of  the  guardians  of  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
people,  you  will  do  that  which  is  for  the  best,  and  at  least 
raise  your  voice  against  this  ruinous  system." 

The  Hon.  Levi  Barber,*  in  a  letter  of  December  31,, 

*Col.  Levi  Baiber,  born  in  Connecticut,  October  16,  1777,  came  to 
Ohio  ill  1799,  and  was  appointed  a  surveyor.  Was  aid  to  Gov.  R.  J. 
Meigs  in  the  war  of  1812;  was  also  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
for  Washington  county,  and  of  tiie  Supreme  Court;  and  receiver  of 
public  moneys  at  the  U.  S.  land  office  at  Marietta,  Ohio.  Member  of 
Congress,  1819-20,  and  1S22-2;1  He  was  many  years  a  merchant  and 
postmaster  in  Harmar.      Me  died  April  23,  1833. 


160  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

1824,  writes :  "  I  have  felt  much  opposed  to  the  state's 
■embarrassing  itself,  or  its  finances,  with  the  canal  project, 
and  indignant  at  the  governor's  message  recommending 
an  increased  tax  on  first,  second,  and  third  rate  land  to 
raise  the  revenue ;  hut  if  it  can  eflect  an  ad  valorem  sys- 
tem of  taxation  I  will  he  silent.  I  would,  however,  much 
prefer  the  granting  a  liberal  charter,  and  let  the  state  have 
nothing  more  to  do  with  it. 

"Altho'  our  population  is  numerous,  as  to  available 
funds  we  are  poor.  If  we  raise  children  fast,  it  yet  re- 
quires all  the  exertions  of  the  family  in  removing  the  for- 
est, to  provide  hog  and  hominy  to  feed  them.  It  would 
seem  to  me  time  enough  to  call  on  them  for  extraordinary 
supplies  when  we  shall  see  them  removed  from  their  cabins 
to  comfortable  dwellings,  and  a  degree  of  comfort  visible 
about  them." 

William  R.  Putnam,  Esq.,  writes  from  Marietta,  Decem- 
ber 31,  1824 : 

"  Your  esteemed  letter  of  the  24th  instant  came  to  hand 
l)y  the  last  mail ;  I  was  truly  gratified  in  receiving  this 
token  of  your  attention.  Very  momentous  subjects  ap- 
pear to  claim  the  attention  of  the  present  legislature ;  the 
contemplated  canal  appears  to  occupy  the  foreground ;  the 
ad  valorem  system  of  taxation  is  nearly,  if  not  equally,  as 
important ;  and  not  inferior  to  either,  is  the  education  of 
our  youth,  or  the  general  school  system,  as  it  is  called.  It 
has  been  here  reported  that  in  all  probability  the  canal,  if 
ever  constructed,  would  proceed  over  the  summit  level  so 
as  to  fall  into  the  waters  of  the  Muskingum,  down  that 
river  to  Tomaha,  thence  by  the  waters  of  Licking  into  the 
Scioto  valley,  and  down  the  same  to  the  Ohio.  This  route 
to  be  sure  would  be  very  well  for  our  part  of  the  country ; 
the  river  Muskingum  might,  and  will,  doubtless  in  that 
case,  be  improved  in  its  navigation,  either  by  clearing  the 
channel,  or  by  dams  and  locks,  so  as  to  connect  the  canal 
with  the  Ohio  at  this  place.  Thus  from  the  heart  of  the 
state,  the  Ohio  might  be  approached  either  way,  and 
should  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  ever  be  completed, 
it  would  place  us  in  the  great  thoroughfare.     But  all  this 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  161 

is  of  minor  consideration  ;  should  the  Ohio  he  connected 
with  Lake  Erie  by  any  route  the  great  object  will  be  ob- 
tained ;  ]^ew  York  will  present  to  us  a  better  market  for 
certain  articles  of  our  produce  than  we  ought  ever  to  ex- 
pect from  New  Orleans. 

"  To  effect  this  junction  of  the  lake  and  the  river,  funds, 
immense  funds,  are  wanting ;  and  men  to  direct,  possess- 
ing public  confidence,  as  well  as  genius  and  energy — we 
want  a  Clinton,  or  men  of  like  spirit.  Funds,  in  all  like- 
lihood, can  be  obtained,  if  the  revenue  of  the  state  should 
be  put  upon  a  footing  so  as  to  secure  the  payment  of  the 
interest  on  the  loans.  In  order  to  do  this,  something  more 
than  a  little  more  tax  on  first,  second,  and  third  rate  land, 
and  a  few  old  clocks  and  watches,  must  be  done.  Yes, 
sir ;  the  real  wealth  of  the  state,  wherever  found,  and  of 
whatever  it  may  consist,  must  come  into  the  requisition. 
Your  revenue  system  must,  therefore,  be  on  a  hberal  and 
extensive  scale,  showing  to  the  public  that  we  are  engaged, 
heart  and  hand,  in  this  important  object;  our  success  in 
loans  depends  on  this,  more  than  perhaps  we  are  aware ; 
such  a  system  would  be  just,  and  therefore  we  might  ex- 
pect success. 

"•  If  the  canal  interest  should  produce  a  just  system  of 
taxation  it  will  be  of  great  moment,  and  altho'  some  one, 
seeing  the  necessity  of  it  to  help  forward  the  canal,  should 
step  forth  in  its  behalf,  and  even  attempt  to  bear  away  the 
palm,  it  will  not  be  forgotten  that  you,  sir,  long  since  pro- 
posed the  measure,  and  journals  will  testify  in  your  favor, 
when  you  and  I  shall  sleep  with  our  fathers. 

"The  subject  of  schools  I  think  very  important,  but 
there  is  a  time  for  all  things — the  time  seems  not  yet  to 
have  come.  After  the  revenue  system  shall  have  become 
settled  and  in  operation,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  add  a 
per  cent  for  public  schools,  at  least  it  can  be  much  better 
done  then  than  at  this  time." 

But  to  return  to  Mr.  Cutler's  own  letters.  He  writes  to 
Mrs.  Cutler,  January  1,  1825 : 

"I  have  just  got  through  with  another  most  animated 
11 


162  Life  of  Ejphraim  Cutler. 

struggle  in  the  senate,  relating  to  the  act  incorporating 
Marietta.  I  had  to  contend  three  days ;  the  first  two 
alone,  and  single  handed,  against  Buckingham,  Kirker, 
Avery,  Simpson,  and  Ileaton.  I  was  worn  down  with 
fatigue  and  vexation,  but  happily  restrained  my  temper. 
The  result  is  very  grateful  to  my  feelings;  the  bill  has 
passed  the  senate,  ayes  22,  nays  13,  and  without  the  least 
alteration. 

"I  have  had  a  very  laborious  time  thus  far,  and  expect 
little  cessation  until  the  important  business  of  the  session 
is  brought  to  a  close.  I  have,  however,  much  to  encour- 
age me  that  my  labors  will  not  be  in  vain  ;  I  have  strong 
hope  that  the  ad  valorem  system  will  be  adopted.  The 
committee  of  finance  have  prepared  and  unanimously 
agreed  to  seven  bills,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  a  valua- 
tion, assessing,  collecting,  and  paying  over  all  taxes  in  one 
aniform  system,  to  answer  all  cases.  These  would,  this 
day,  have  been  reported  to  the  senate,  had  not  our  chair- 
man been  dilatory  in  preparing  his  report.  They  will, 
probably,  be  reported  to  one  or  the  other  branch  of  the 
legislature  on  Monday  next. 

"The  canal  commissioners  have  not  yet  reported.  We 
are  anxiously  waiting  for  them  to  do  so,  A  committee  for 
preparing  the  necessary  measures  has  been  lately  appointed, 
and  have  commenced  their  labors. 

"Dr.  Cotton*  makes  a  useful  member  of  the  house,  and 
is  much  respected.  We  most  cordially  unite  on  all  ques- 
tions of  public  interest." 

Letters  written  at  the  time  show  that  a  strong  interest 


*  Dr.  John  Cotton  was  t)orn  in  Plymouth,  Mass.,  September,  1792. 
He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Josiah  Cotton,  and  descendant  of  the  I^ev. 
John  Cotton,  one  of  the  eailj'  ministers  of  Boston.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  University  in  1810,  and  came  to  Marietta  in  1815,  where  he 
soon  became  known  as  a  successful  practitioner  of  physic  and  a  skill- 
ful surgeon.  He  was  a  scholirly,  Cl)ristian  gentleman,  a  proficient  in 
classical  and  scientific  studies,  delighting  especially  in  astronomy.  In 
1824  he  was  chosen  to  represent  Washington  county  in  the  Ohio  Leg- 
islature, and  in  1825  was  made  an  associate  judge  of  the  court  of  com- 
mon pleas,  which  office  he  filled  until  his  death,  April  2,  1847.  (See 
"Early  Physicians  of  Marietta.") 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  163 

was  felt  in  Marietta  respecting  the  act  incorporating  the 
town,  passed  at  this  session.  For  some  unexplained  rea- 
son it  met  with  decided  opposition  in  certain  quarters.  A 
scrap  found  among  Mr.  Cutler's  papers  contains  notes  of 
his  remarks  during  the  discussion  of  the  act,  from  which 
the  following  extract  is  made. 

Mr.  Cutler  remarked,  "that  he  was  confident  that  this 
bill  would  have  passed  without  any  unreasonable  objec- 
tions, had  it  not  met  with  them  from  a  quarter  whence 
they  were  least  to  be  expected.  Scores  of  towns  in  other 
parts  of  the  state  have  had  their  grants  as  unlimited  as 
these  will  be  if  the  act  passes  without  amendment.  Why 
should  Marietta  be  made  the  first  example,  and  her  citi- 
zens be  disappointed  in  their  views  relating,  entirely,  to 
regulating  the  internal  concerns  of  their  own  town?  Let 
us  inquire  into  this  matter.  Are  not  her  claims  equal  with 
those  of  other  towns  ?  The  settlement  of  Marietta  com- 
menced in  1788,  and  is  the  most  ancient  in  this  great  and 
flourishing  state.  One  of  her  advanced  posts  sustained 
the  first  shock  of  the  Indian  War — a  war  of  extermina- 
tion ;  in  which  two  gallant  armies  were  destroyed.  Her 
people  sustained  and  defended  themselves  through  that 
terrible  conflict,  although  they  were  one  hundred  miles 
advanced  from  all  protection  or  aid.  And  they  were 
among  the  first  to  bear  the  burdens  of  civil  government 
in  this  region,  and  have  paid  an  unequal  tax  to  support 
that  government  without  a  murmur  other  than  has  fallen 
from  the  lips  of  their  unworthy  representative. 

"  The  people  of  Marietta  consider  themselves  as  stand- 
ing on  dift'erent  and  superior  ground  from  other  corpora- 
tions in  the  state.  They  received  their  act  of  incorporation 
from  the  territorial  government,  which  was  confirmed  to 
them  by  the  constitution — the  charter  under  which  gen- 
tlemen, here,  hold  their  seats.  The  Supreme  Court,  the 
highest  legal  autViority  in  the  state,  has  determined  that 
this  charter  can  not  be  infringed.  Their  rights  are  se- 
cured beyond  the  reach  of  the  proud  presumption  of  '  a 
little  brief  authority ;'  but  they  now  come  forward  and  are 
willing  to  surrender  these  rights,  and  place  themselves  on 


164  Life  of  Ephraiyn  Cutler. 

a  level  with  the  most  insignificant  village  to  which  you 
have  heretofore  granted  acts  of  incorporation. 

"  Grants  to  corporations  for  purposes  of  mere  civil  polity 
are  made  for  the  better  regulation  of  communities,  to  en- 
able them  to  govern  and  be  governed  in  a  manner  to 
secure  the  peace  and  happiness  of  society  in  a  crowded 
population.  This  bill  provides  for  little  more  than  the 
correct  government  of  the  police  of  the  town.  Towns 
and  cities,  '  the  sores  of  communities,'  as  Mr.  Jefferson 
terms  them,  require  a  more  vigilant  and  efficient  govern- 
ment than  agricultural  districts  with  sparse  population. 
These  incorporations,  therefore,  are  merely  a  part  of  the 
political  regulation  adopted  for  the  better  administration 
of  government,  and  have  nothing  attached  to  them  of  the 
borough  privileges  of  Great  Britain,  between  which  and 
our  incorporations  there  is  no  analogy.  I  must  vote 
against  receiving  this  act  on  the  conditions  proposed — 
Marietta  does  not  deserve  to  be  thus  treated,  and  I  feel  it 
my  duty  to  reject  wMth  disdain  terms  which  you  have 
not  presumed  to  impose  on  the  sorriest  village  in  the 
state." 

Mr.  Cutler  to  Mrs.  Cutler :  "  Columbus,  January  16, 
1825.  I  have  been  deeply  engaged,  and  worn  down  with 
the  fatigue  of  business  during  some  weeks.  Two  days 
before  receiving  your  letter,  I  began  to  reap,  with  joy  and 
gratitude,  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  ray  long  continued 
efforts  result  in  the  adoption  of  our  tax  system  by  a  ma- 
jority in  the  house  of  representatives  I  had  never  expected 
to  see — sixty  in  favor,  to  nine  against  it.  The  bill  will  be 
acted  upon  by  the  senate  to-morrow,  and  we  have  no  ap- 
prehension of  its  failure.  The  canal  bill  will  follow  on ;  I 
have  had  the  address  to  keep  the  tax  law  in  the  lead.  I 
hope  two  weeks  will  close  the  labors  of,  perhaps,  the  most 
important  session  ever  held  in  Ohio.  The  unanimity  which 
has  prevailed  has  never  had,  I  believe,  its  parallel  in  our 
legislature.  I  have  obtained  two  useful  measures  for  the 
Athens  county  people — the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  part 
of  the  mill-dam  law,  and  the  toll  bridge  for  Silas  Bingham 
and  associates." 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  165 

Mr.  ITalium  "Ward  writes  from  Marietta,  January  12, 
1825  :  "  We  are  greatly  indebted  to  you  for  your  services 
in  the  senate,  and  all  acknowledge  it." 

Judge  Osborn,  of  Scioto  county,  writes : 

"  Portsmouth,  January  18,  1825. 
'*  To  Hon.  Ephraim  Cutler: 

^'Dear  Sir — Hearing  that  the  child  of  your  labor  is  no 
longer  struggling  for  birth,  and  that  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives have  taken  away  from  it  the  complaint  of  a 
king  'there  is  no  strength  to  bring  it  forth;'  and  that  in 
this  livino:  attitude  it  has  been  introduced  into  the  senate 
chamber,  permit  me  to  congratulate  you  on  the  attain- 
ment of  an  object  upon  which  you  have  spent  so  much 
time  and  labor.  But,  my  dear  sir,  pray  treat  this  oftspring 
of  your  attention  with  delicacy,  that  it  be  not  smothered 
before  it  makes  its  appearance  in  our  state  as  one  of  the 
laws  of  Ohio,  entitled  an  act  for  the  equalization  of  taxes 
— perhaps  I  have  not  given  the  right  name,  but  by  what- 
ever name  it  makes  its  appearance — it  will  meet  the  ap- 
probation of  every  judicious  person.  .  .  .  The  wisdom 
of  government  is  seen  when  its  laws  so  operate,  that  each 
person  contributes  an  equal  proportion  toward  its  support, 
having  a  due  regard  to  his  taxable  property,  and  the  local 
situation  which  may  increase  or  diminish"  its  value ;  and 
such  I  understand  is  the  outline  of  this  law.  ...  I 
am,  with  respect,  etc.,  Ezra  Osborn." 

Caleb  Atwater,  Esq.,  author  of  a  History  of  Ohio,  and 
an  early  friend  of  the  school  system,  writes  from  Circle- 
ville,  January  22,  1825,  as  follows : 

*'  To  Hon.  Judge  Cutler,  of  the  Senate  : 

^'■Dear  Sir — You  are  doing  nobly;  press  forward  with 
your  equal  taxation,  the  school  system,  and  the  canals,  and 
immortahze  this  legislature.  What  must  be  your  sensa- 
tions on  the  prospect  you  now  have  of  carrying  into  effect 
the  three  greatest  objects  ever  presented  to  our  legisla- 


166  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

ture !  Press  forward,  I  say,  in  your  career  of  doing  good. 
Posterity  will  call  you  blessed.  .  .  .  Yours,  with  grati- 
tude, Caleb  Atwater." 

Mr.  Cutler  was  chairman  of  the  committee  to  whom 
was  referred  the  "bill  for  the  appointment  of  public 
printer,  and  defining  his  duties."  The  following  letter 
relates,  in  part,  to  this  subject : 

"  Putnam,  January  19,  1825. 

^^ Esteemed  Friend — I  understand  that  the  Ohio  Legisla- 
ture are  about  to  appoint  a  state  printer,  and  I  beg  leave 
to  recommend  to  your  consideration  Mr.  Horatio  J.  Cox, 
as  a  suitable  person  for  that  appointment.  I  have  long 
witnessed  the  neatness,  accuracy,  and  dispatch  with  which 
his  work  is  characterized;  and  should  he  be  appointed,  I 
have  no  doubt  but  he  would  perfectly  satisfy  his  employ- 
ers, I  am  not  acquainted  with  a  printer  in  the  state 
whom  I  should  prefer  to  him. 

"  I  am  much  rejoiced  to  find  your  system  of  taxation  is 
likely  to  be  adopted,  and  that  there  is  a  prospect  the  canal 
scheme  will  succeed.  I  think  the  present  legislature  will 
deserve  immortal  honors  for  the  liberal  course  they  are 
pursuing. 

"  You  have  seen  the  law  of  the  U.  S.  giving  the  Ohio 
Legislature  leave  to  sell  the  Salt  Peservation  for  the  bene- 
fit of  literary  institutions.  I  hope  Athens,  or,  rather,  the 
Ohio  University,  will  come  into  consideration,  and  get  a 
part  of  the  proceeds.  Wishing  you  every  success,  I  sub- 
scribe myself,  your  friend  and  humble  servant, 

"Edwin  Putnam." 

January  23,  1825,  Mr.  Cutler  writes  to  Mrs.  Cutler: 
"As  to  the  business  I  wished  to  have  transacted,  so  far, 
it  appears  prosperous,  for  which  I  ought  most  devoutly  to 
thank  the  Giver  of  all  good,  who  protects  and  helps  those 
who  put  their  trust  in  Him,  and  turns  the  hearts  of  men 
as  the  waters  are  turned.  I  have  little  doubt  the  revenue 
law  will  be  made  to  my  mind,  and  also  a  free  school  sys- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  167 

tem.  The  canal  bill  will,  of  course,  pass,  which  is  also 
important.  If  these  three  measures  are  passed  and  fully 
adopted,  this  legislature  will  be,  or  ought  to  be,  remem- 
bered while  Ohio  is  a  state.  liev.  David  Young,  Dudley 
"Woodbridge,  and  Calvary  Morris  are  appointed  Trustees 
of  the  Ohio  University,  in  place  of  Rev.  Stephen  Lindley, 
removed  to  Kentucky.  General  Putnam,  and  Judge  Mil- 
ler, deceased." 

By  reference  to  the  senate  journal,  it  appears  that  on 
January  25th  the  "  act  establishing  an  equitable  mode  of 
levying  the  taxes  of  this  state  "  passed  the  senate  by  a  vote 
of  twenty-six  for  to  eight  against  it. 

On  the  29tli  of  January,  Mr.  Cutler  moved  in  the  senate, 
as  an  amendment  to  the  bill  "  for  the  better  regulation  of 
the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,"  that,  "the  sum  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars  be  appropriated  for  the  use  of  the  Oliio  Uni- 
versity, to  be  paid  out  of  the  literary  fund,  to  the  order 
of  the  treasurer  of  said  university;  and  to  be  applied,  by 
the  direction  of  the  trustees  thereof,  for  the  purpose  of 
paying  any  debts  that  may  have  been  contracted  by  the 
purchase  of  a  philosophical  apparatus,  or  for  additions  to 
the  library  of  said  institution."  Which  motion  was  de- 
cided in  the  affirmative  by  a  vote  of  twenty-one  to  thir- 
teen. And  to  Mr.  Cutler's  gratification  it  passed  the 
house  of  representatives  by  a  large  majority — fifty-eight 
to  twelve. 

To  Mrs.  Cutler,  January  29,  1825  :  "  The  act  to  provide 
for  an  equal  system  of  taxation  has  passed  both  houses, 
and  has  become  a  law.  The  canal  and  common  school 
acts  have  passed  the  senate  by  very  large  majorities ;  the 
first  has  passed  the  house  Avith  amendments  which  are 
pending  between  the  branches  of  the  legislature.  We 
have  strong  hopes  the  house  will  pass  our  school  law." 

The  school  bill  had  passed  the  senate  January  26th — 
yeas  twenty-eight,  nays  eight — and  on  the  first  of  Febru- 
ary it  passed  the  house  of  representatives  by  a  vote  of 
forty-six  to  twenty-four.  It  was  on  this  latter  occasion 
that  Mr.  Cutler,  deeply  anxious  for  the  fate  of  the  bill,  was 
at  the  bar  of  the  house  when  the  vote  was  taken ;  Mr. 


168  Life  of  Ephrahn  Cutler. 

Nathan  Guilford,  senator  from  Hamilton  county,  equally- 
interested,  was  standing  by  his  side  ;  when  the  speaker 
announced  the  result,  Mr.  Cutler  turned,  and  raising  his 
hand  said,  solemnly:  "Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant 
depart  in  peace,  accordiug  to  thy  word  ;  for  mine  eyes  have 
seen  thy  salvation."  Thus,  through  many  discourage- 
ments, after  six  years,  he  saw  his  school  bill  of  1819,  by 
the  help  of  other  good  and  earnest  men,  shaped  into  an 
effective  school  law;  a  system  destined  to  still  greater  im- 
provement, by  which  Ohio,  at  an  expense  of  about  eight 
millions  of  dollars  annually,  gives  to  every  child  within 
her  borders  the  opportunity  to  acquire  a  respectable  edu- 
cation. 

During  this  session  a  United  States  senator  was  elected 
to  fill  the  place  of  Gov.  E.  A.  Brown,  whose  term  of  ser- 
vice expired  the  next  March.  The  candidates  were  Gen. 
"William  11.  Harrison,  Gov,  Thomas  Worthington,  and 
Wyllis  SilHman,  Esq.  Mr.  Silliman  had  been  associated 
with  Elijith  Backus,  Esq.,  at  Marietta,  in  1801,  in  publish- 
ing one  of  the  earliest  newspapers  in  the  West,  "The  Ohio 
Gazette  and  the  Territorial  and  Virginia  Herald."  He 
and  Mr.  Backus  were  also  partners  in  the  practice  of  the 
law.  Mr.  Silliman  was  a  member  of  the  first  state  leo-is- 
lature  in  1803.  He  received  from  Jefferson  the  appoint- 
ment of  register  of  the  land  office  at  Zanesville,  to  which 
place  he  removed,  and  was  for  many  years  a  well  known 
and  able  lawyer  there. 

Extracts  from  characteristic  letters  written  to  Mr.  Cut- 
ler show  that  Mr,  Silliman's  friends  were  very  desirous  to 
secure  his  election.  Col.  Convers,  of  Zanesville,  v/rites : 
"Wyllis  Silliman,  Esq.,  is  a  candidate  for  the  senate  of 
the  United  States,  and  I  feel  a  great  interest  in  his  elec- 
tion, as  he  is  as  clever  a  fellow  as  you,  or  myself,  or  any 
other  person.  Kow,  I  want  you  to  give  him  all  your  in- 
terest, which  I  think  ought  not  to  be  small  in  that  legisla- 
tive body." 

The  following  is  from  John  Mathews,*  one  of  the  first 

*John  Mathews  was  one  of  the  original  nioneers  who  beuan  tlie  set- 
tleinent  of  Ohio  at  Marietta  in  1788.     He  was  a  share-holder  and  sur- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  169 

pioneer  band  who  landed  at  Mnskingum  in  1788,  a  nephew 
of  Gen.  Putnam,  and  a  noted  land  surveyor  of  that  time: 

"  I  take  the  liberty,  as  an  old  Federalist  writing  to  an 
old  Federalist,  to  electioneer  a  little  for  a  renegade  Feder- 
alist, Wyllis  Silliman,  who  will  be  a  candidate  for  the  sen- 
ate of  the  United  States.  But  now  yon  know  we  are  all 
Federalists,  all  Eepublicans,  in  spite  of  Mr,  Jefferson's 
policy,  which  always  belied  this  pretty  saying, 

"I  candidly  confess  that  something  sticks  a  little  in  my 
stomach  when  men,  who  have  taken  a  devious  track  in 
politics,  come  forward  for  office ;  but  I  consider  the  time 
completely  passed  when  this  grumbling  in  old  stomachs 
should  have  any  Aveight,  Silliman  always  fervently  main- 
tained, and  never  shrank  from  expressing  his  Federal  par- 
tialities in  relation  to  those  great  men,  who  formerly  were 
our  pride  and  boast. 

"  I  have  long;  ag-o  foro-iven  him,  and  feel  some  zeal  in 
adding  my  mite  to  promote  his  election.  Silliman  has 
never  been  a  sneaking  Democrat,  Ilornblower,  or  any 
thing  of  the  kind ;  and  in  point  of  talents,  I  think,  will 
not  be  behind  any  other  candidate.  He  will  meet  with 
warm  and,  I  believe,  almost  unanimous  support  from  this 
part  of  the  country,  and  I  hope  you  may  feel  disposed  to 
give  him  your  hearty  support." 

Caleb  Atwater,  Esq.,  of  Circleville,  Ohio,  writes  :  "  Elect 
Silliman  as  an  object  of  general  good.  Tell  our  member 
to  remember  our  eastern  and  western  mail  route  when  he 
votes  for  senator.  Silliman  is  in  our  interest,  the  others 
are  not.  His  qualifications,  too,  are  superior  to  those  of 
his  opponents." 

Mr.  Silliman  received  a  very  handsome  support,  second 
only  to  Gen,  Harrison,  the  successful  candidate. 


veyor  of  the  Ohio  Company,  and  while  surveying  in  Lawrence  county, 
August,  17S9,  his  camp  was  attacked  by  hostile  Indians,  and  seven  of 
his  men  slain  ;  himself  and  only  four  others  escaped.  In  1792  he  was 
appointed  superintendent  of  affairs  with  the  French  at  Hallipolis.  He 
married  Sally,  daughter  of  Hon.  Dudley  Woodbridge.  of  Marietta,  and 
settled  in  Muskingum  county.  "  He  was  one  of  the  most  useful^ 
active,  and  clear-headed  men  Ohio  ever  claimed  for  a  citizen." 


170  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

The  legislature,  having  finished  the  business  before  them, 
adjourned  without  day,  February  8,  1825. 

Mr.  II.  D.  Ward,  who  spent  a  part  of  the  winter  of 
1823-4  with  Mr.  Cutler  at  Columbus,  writes  to  him  from 
Massachusetts,  August  14,  1825  : 

"I  have  heard  from  you,  and  of  you,  through  my 
brother;  and  have  felt  v/ith  you,  and  for  you,  in  working 
your  revenue  and  school  bills,  and  canal  undertaking  into 
legislative  being;  and  now  I  rejoice  with  you  in  the  com- 
mencement of  the  grand  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie  Canal ;  and 
pray  that  the  school  bill  may  go  into  as  effectual  operation 
as  the  revenue  law. 

"  These  are  great  works,  long  ardently  desired  and  per- 
severingly  labored  for.  You  have  borne  a  distinguished 
part  in  giving  them  life,  and  I  hope  this  may  long  con- 
tinue a  source  of  pure  satisfaction  to  you. 

"ISTothing  is  so  important  now  for  Ohio,  as  to  give  the 
benefits  of  a  common  school  education  to  every  child  of 
hers.  There  will  be  pride  of  character  as  well  as  sense  of 
propriety  in  building  up  the  universities  and  academies; 
but  let  not  the  rich  and  learned  forget  the  poor  and  igno- 
rant, but  let  the  whole  people  grow  wise  together,  accord- 
ing to  their  several  stations  in  life. 

"  I  hear  with  interest  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Ohio 
University,  of  which  you  are  an  appointed  and  efficient 
guardian,  and  I  was  once  an  humble  officer.  May  its 
guardians  have  wisdom,  its  officers  energy,  and  its  stu- 
dents peace  and  harmony." 

The  Hon.  Eleutheros  Cooke,  a  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture  with  Judge  Cutler,  writes  to  him  from  Sandusky,  O., 
October  13,  1828: 

"  Nothing  vv'ould  give  me  so  great  pleasure  as  to  see  you 
at  my  own  fireside,  and  recount  with  you  the  events  of  our 
labors  in  the  le2:islature.  As  the  author  and  founder  of 
our  new  and  excellent  system  of  revenue  and  taxation,  I 
shall  ever  consider  you  as  richly  entitled  to  the  gratitude 
of  the  state.  In  this  part  of  the  country  you  are  known 
as  the  author." 

As  a  result  of  Judge  Cutler's  legislative  labors,  extend- 


Life  of  Ei^hraim  Cutler.  171 

ing  from  1819  to  1825,  there  was  placed  upon  the  statute 
books  of  Ohio  the  law  of  January  22,  1821,  entitled  "an 
act  to  provide  for  the  regulation  and  support  of  common 
schools,"  and  that  of  February  5,  1825,  "  an  act  to  provide 
for  the  support  and  better  regulation  of  common  schools." 
The  first  of  these  acts  provided  that  school  districts 
might  be  laid  off  in  townships  when  authorized  by  a  vote 
of  a  majority  of  the  house-holders;  also,  that  trustees  of 
townships  might  lay  off  and  divide  their  townshi[»s  into 
districts  upon  the  petition  of  two  thirds  of  the  house- 
holders. 

2.  That  a  school  committee  of  three  should  be  elected 
on  the  first  Monday  of  May,  annually,  with  power  to  erect 
school  houses  and  employ  teachers. 

3.  That  a  tax  should  be  levied  to  erect  school  houses, 
and  pay  any  deficiency  that  might  arise  in  the  case  of 
children  whose  parents  were  unable  to  pay  the  full  amount 
of  schooling. 

This  was  a  step  forward,  an  entering  wedge  in  the  right 
direction,  but  it  was  not  a  full  assumption  by  the  state  of 
the  obligation  to  take  charge  of  the  education  of  the 
people. 

But  the  act  of  February  5,  1825,  went  much  farther ;  it 
provided : 

1.  That  a  tax  should  be  levied  annually,  in  each  county 
on  the  general  list,  to  the  extent  of  one-twentieth  of  one 
per  cent,  for  the  support  of  schools. 

2.  Township  trustees  to  lay  oft"  school  districts  in  their 
respective  townships. 

3.  House-holders  to  elect  three  directors  in  each  district, 
who  were  to  establish  the  sites  for  school-houses  and  build 
them. 

4.  No  person  to  teach  without  a  certificate  of  qualifica- 
tion from  examiners  appointed  by  the  court  of  common 
pleas. 

5.  The  duties  of  clerks,  auditors,  and  other  officials  were 
prescribed. 

By  this  act  the  State  of  Ohio,  for  the  first  time,  assumed 


172  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

its  constitutional  obligation  to  "encourage  schools  and  the 
means  of  education." 

In  its  essential  features  it  was  a  system.  It  is  substan- 
tially the  system  of  to-day  ;  that  is,  the  power  and  duty  to 
lay  taxes  for  that  specific  object ;  then  to  organize  districts, 
elect  directors,  build  houses,  employ  teachers,  and  impose 
qualifications,  and  the  legal  machinery  for  collecting  and 
applying  funds. 

Up  to  the  date  of  these  acts,  there  had  been  legislation 
regulating  the  sale  and  the  disposal  of  money  arising  from 
school  section  16;  but  no  attempt  at  systematic  organiza- 
tion, and  no  assumption  by  the  state  of  the  responsibilities 
of  education. 

Before  the  introduction  of  a  school  system  as  defined  in 
the  laws  which  owe  their  origin  largely  to  Judge  Cutler, 
the  existence  of  a  school  in  any  neighborhood  depended 
solely  upon  the  efibrts  of  one  or  more  individuals  who 
would  take  the  trouble  to  raise,  by  subscription,  money  to 
employ  a  teacher,  and  either  build  a  house,  or  set  apart  a 
room  in  their  own  dwellings  for  that  purpose.  The  follow- 
ing agreement  for  a  school  taught  in  Warren,  Washington 
county,  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  way  children 
obtained  their  schooling  at  that  time  : 

"  We,  the  subscribers,  do  hereby  mutually  agree  to  hire 
Miss  Sally  Rice  to  teach  a  school  in  the  school-house  near 
Mr.  William  Smith's,  for  the  term  of  three  months,  to 
commence  on  the  9th  day  of  June,  instant.  She  is  to 
commence  her  school  at  the  hour  of  9  o'clock  in  the  fore- 
noon, and  keep  until  12 ;  and  at  the  hour  of  1,  and  con- 
tinue until  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  She  is  to  teach 
reading,  and  to  instruct  the  young  Misses  in  the  art  of 
sewing;  and  to  keep  all  necessary  regulations  as  is  usual 
in  schools ;  for  which  w^e  agree  to  give  her  the  sum  of 
one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  week  during  the  said 
term,  which  sum  shall  be  assessed  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  scholars  we  have  set  to  our  names.  Provided, 
also,  that  in  case  more  are  sent  by  any  individual  than  he 
has  subscribed  for,  or  any  persons  send  who  do  not  sub- 
scribe, they  shall  be  assessed  in  proportion  to  the  number 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  173 

they  send ;  the  money  to  be  assessed  and  collected  by  a 
committee  to  be  appointed  for  that  purpose.  And  for  the 
performance  of  the  foregoing,  we  hold  ourselves  bound. 
Dated  this  8th  day  of  June,  a.  d.  1814. 

Willard  Green,  2  scholars.  Ephraim  Cutler,  4  scholars,  and 

Levi  Strong,  h  scholar.  boarding  mistress. 

Isaac  Humphreys,  3  scholars.  James  Moor,  2  scholars. 

Widow  Robinson,  2  scholars.  Ezekiel  Finch,  one  scholar. 

T.  Cone,  \  scholar.  Wm.  Smith,  2  scholars. 

T.  Patten,  A  scholar.  Philip  Cole,  2  scholars. 

G.  Wilson,  J  scholar.  Seth  Bailey,  2  scholars. 

Widow  Terry,  2  scholars.  Asa  Cole,  i  scholar. 

.  John  Steward,  2  scholar.  Ichabod  Cole,  1  scholar. 

John  Henry,  1  scholar.  John  Green,  one  scholar." 

Another  result  of  his  legislative  service  is  found  in  the 
act  establishing  an  equitable  system  of  taxation,  passed 
February  3,  1825,  consisting  of  forty  sections. 

And  an  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  an  act  detining  the 
duties  of  county  auditors,  passed  February  1,  1825,  con- 
sisting of  eighteen  sections. 

Also  an  act  defining  the  duties  of  collectors  of  taxes, 
passed  February  8,  1825,  fifteen  sections. 

These  three  acts,  comprising  seventy-three  sections,  em- 
braced the  })rinciples  and  details  of  the  application  to  the 
real  estate  of  Ohio  of  an  entirely  new,  and  hitherto  un 
tried  system  of  taxation.  Its  fundamental  idea  was,  that 
^^  lands,  town  lots,  and  houses  should  be  valued  on  actual  view 
at  cash  prices.'"  Up  to  that  time  an  arbitrary  valuation 
was  fixed  by  the  legislature  on  lands  at  so  much  on  each 
one  hundred  acres  of  first,  second,  and  third  rate  land. 

His  system  required  arrangements  for  assessors,  rules 
and  forms  for  returns — boards  of  equalization — and  new 
duties  for  auditors,  collectors,  etc. 

It  has  been  enlarged,  modified,  and  changed,  but  its  es- 
sential features  remain  the  same.  It  was  a  new  departure, 
and  one  that  gave  credit  to  Ohio  at  the  opportune  time 
of  her  entering  upon  her  s^^stem  of  internal  improve- 
ments. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  eflbrts  to  promote  both 
schools  and  the  ad  valorem  system  of  taxation,  Mr.  Cutler 


174  Life  of  Ejphraim  Cutler. 

met  with  positive  and  most  influential  opposition  to  both 
measures. 

The  prevailing  sentiment  as  regards  the  support  of 
schools  by  taxation  was,  that  it  was  a  violation  of  indi- 
vidual rights  for  the  state  to  take  one  man's  money  to  pay 
the  school-bill  of  his  neighbor's  child.  The  common  adage 
was,  "  let  every  man  school  his  own  children."  Even  up 
to  the  passage  of  the  school  system,  the  journals  show  a 
strong  minority  vote  against  the  measure. 

In  regard  to  the  change  in  land  valuation,  the  inequality 
and  injustice  of  the  old  system  upon  the  portion  of  the 
state  represented  by  Mr.  Cutler  is  sufficiently  evident  from 
what  has  been  already  stated  in  these  pages  on  that 
subject. 

While  there  is  on  record  these  evidences  of  the  ability  of 
Ephraim  Cutler  to  organize  systems  of  public  policy  upon 
most  important  subjects,  he  cherished  too  much  self-respect 
to  organize  political  campaigns  for  his  own  advancement, 
and  consequently  the  state  lost  his  further  services.  Private 
intrigue  and  ambition  supplanted  a  faithful  public  servant, 
and  he  retired  with  a  consciousness  of  duty  well  per- 
formed. 

A  few  years  later,  in  a  letter  addresb^ed  to  his  political 
friends,  he  sums  up  his  political  services  in  these  words: 

"  You  have  by  your  free  and  unsolicited  suftVages  elected 
me,  heretofore,  a  member  of  the  territorial  legislature,  a 
member  of  the  convention  that  formed  your  state  .consti- 
tution, and  several  times  a  member  of  the  state  legislature. 
In  these  several  capacities,  I  have  endeavored  to  be  the  or- 
gan to  express  your  will,  and  in  compliance  with  what  I 
believed  it  to  be,  I  have,  again  and  again,  supported  the 
extension  of  the  right  of  suffrage  until  the  constitution 
settled  that  point.  I  introduced  in  the  convention' that 
part  of  the  constitution  which  excludes  involuntary  slavery, 
forever,  from  within  your  borders.  I  introduced  the  first 
bill  into  the  state  legislature  for  establishing  a  common 
school  system,  that  was  ever  introduced  in  that  body,  which, 
though  it  failed  at  that  time,  has  since  w^ith  little  varia- 
tion become   a   permanent   law  ;   I  was   also  engaged   in 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  175 

organizing  the  revenue  S3'stem,  and  I  have  been  spared  by 
a  kind  Providence  to  see  all  these  measures  approved,  not 
only  by  you,  but  by  intelligent  people  throughout  this  and 
adjoining  states.  As  this  is,  probably,  the  last  time  I  shall 
address  you  on  a  political  question,  I  will  avail  myself  of 
this  opportunity  to  thank  you  for  the  kindness  and  par- 
tiality I  have  ever  experienced  from  you." 


176  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ohio  University — Tenth   Presidential   Election — Agri- 
cultural Address. 

The  preceding  pages  sliow  Judge  Cutler's  labors  for  the 
establishment  by  law  of  a  system  of  common  schools,  which 
makes  it  possible  for  the  youth  of  the  state  to  acquire  a  de- 
cent education,  and  also  his  eiforts  in  behalf  of  the  Ohio 
University.  The  deep  interest  which  he  took  in  that 
institution,  and  his  endeavors  to  promote  its  welfare  and 
usefulness,  arose  not  merely  from  the  fact  that  he  was  one 
of  its  trustees,  and  that  the  university  owed  its  origin  to 
the  forethought  and  efibrts  of  his  father,  but  from  an 
earnest  desire  that  the  means  of  a  collegiate  education 
should  be  provided,  and  made  accessible  to  the  people. 

It  is  a  fact,  that  when  Dr.  Cutler  made  the  purchase  of 
western  lands  for  the  Ohio  Company  in  1787,  as  a  recent 
writer  observes,*  "  He  insisted  that  there  should  be  an  ap- 
propriation of  land,  in  the  company's  purchase,  for  the  en- 
dowment of  an  university,  and  this  feature  was  part  of  the 
contract  with  Congress.  Thus  the  Ohio  University  is  un- 
doubtedly indebted  to  Dr.  Cutler  for  its  existence,  and  he 
was  in  later  years  very  active  in  furthering  its  sound  or- 
ganization. He  also  insisted  upon  a  donation  of  land  in 
each  township  for  educational  and  religious  purposes  ;  and 
made  it  a  part  of  the  contract  with  Congress  that  two  sec- 
tions in  each  township  should  be  reserved  as  school  and 
ministerial  lands." 

In  this  contract  it  was  provided  that  "  two  complete 
townships  should  be  given  perpetually  to  the  use  of  an 
university."  These  townships  were  surveyed  in  1795,  by 
General  Rufus  Putnam,  and  located  near  the  center  of  the 
purchase,  in  the  midst  of  a   dense  forest.     In   1799,  the 


*  Walker's  History  of  Athens  Co.,  Ohio,  p.  "251. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  177 

territorial  legislature  passed  an  act  for  laying  oiF  the  town 
of  Athens,  the  site  of  the  proposed  university,  where  a  few 
settlers  were  already  on  the  ground. 

An  act,  establishing  a  university  in  the  town  of  Athens, 
drafted  by  Dr.  Cutler,  was  introduced  into  the  territorial 
legislature  during  the  session  of  1801-2  by  his  son,  Judge 
Cutler,  which  passed,  with  some  modifications,  and  was 
approved  by  Governor  St.  Clair,  January  9,  1802. 

A  small  brick  building  was  erected  for  an  academy, 
which  was  opened  as  a  branch  of  the  university  in  1808 ; 
the  college  edifice  was  completed  in  1817,  and  an  organiza- 
tion of  the  university  was  efifected  in  1820.  The  trustees 
had  selected  the  Rev.  Jacob  Lindley,  a  graduate  of  Prince- 
ton College,  to  take  charge  of  the  institution  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  for  many  years  he  continued  to  conduct  it 
with  distinguished  ability  and  success. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1824,  a  committee  of  the  board 
of  trustees  of  the  university,  of  whom  Rev.  Jacob  Lindley, 
Rev.  Dr.  Hoge,  and  Judge  Cutler  were  members,  met  in 
Columbus  to  select  a  suitable  person  for  president  of  the 
institution.  They  unanimously  agreed  to  recommend  the 
Rev.  Robert  G.  Wilson,  of  Chillicothe.  Dr.  Wilson  was  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  but  removed  to  Ohio  soon  after 
it  was  admitted  as  a  free  state  into  the  Union.  He  had 
been,  since  1805,  the  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Chillicothe.  A  writer  has  justly  said  of  him:  "  Dr.  Wil- 
son w^as  a  man  of  great  intellectual  ability  and  fine  schol- 
arship; a  dignified  and  cultured  gentleman  of  the  old 
school." 

The  selection  made  by  the  committee  at  Columbus  was 
approved.  Dr.  Wilson  was  elected,  and  his  inauguration 
as  president  took  place  at  Athens,  August  11,  1824,  Par- 
ticipating in  the  ceremonies  of  that  occasion,  Judge  Cut- 
ler, on  delivering  the  keys  and  charter  of  the  institution 
to  the  president,  said : 

"  The  trustees  have,  by  their  unanimous  suffrages,  elected 
you  to  the  high  and  responsible  ofiice  of  President  of  the 
Ohio  University.  In  thus  placing  under  your  governing 
12 


178  Life  of  JEphraim  Cutler. 

care  and  instrnction  the  youth,  the  best  hopes  of  our  coun- 
try, they  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  pubhc 
approve  their  choice. 

"  The  motives  which  governed  the  founders  of  this  uni- 
versity in  making  the  munificent  donation  from  which  its 
permanent  revenues  are  derived,  were  so  deeply  interesting 
as  to  impose  upon  those  to  whose  charge  it  shall  he  com- 
mitted duties  of  no  ordinary  character. 

"  This  ffift,  desio-ned  to  secure  to  the  children  of  the 
pioneers  the  blessings  of  an  enlightened  education,  was 
made  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  on  the  23d  of 
July,  1787.  The  statesmen  who  composed  that  bod}'  were 
the  men  who  had  by  their  courage  and  intelligence  greatly 
assisted  in  the  perilous  struggle  which,  in  its  termination, 
established  this  republic  one  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  Thev  had  been  witnesses  of  the  beneficial  and 
astonishing  efi:ects  which  the  early  establishment  of  the 
institutions  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Nassau,  and  William  and 
Mary  had  produced,  by  enabling  our  fathers,  successfully, 
to  support  and  defend  the  principles  for  which  they  were 
contending  with  the  most  accomj^lished  scholars  of  Enrope. 
They,  therefore,  while  they  had  under  consideration  the 
act  preparatory  to  introducing  civil  order  and  government 
into  this,  then  immense  wilderness  north-west  of  the  river 
Ohio,  made  this  donation  with  the  express  condition,  that 
it  should  be  forever  for  the  support  of  an  university.  The 
directors  of  the  Ohio  Company  were  at  that  time  negoti- 
ating, by  their  agents,  for  a  purchase  of  lands  upon  which 
the  first  permanent  settlement  in  the  State  of  Ohio  was 
made.  In  their  contract  they  stipulated  for  this  appropri- 
ation, and  agreed  to  select  two  townships  for  the  donation, 
which  were  located  in  this  vicinity,  and  thus  aided  in  the 
great  national  object. 

"  The  territorial  and  state  legislatures  in  their  early  acts 
appointed  and  incorporated  trustees  to  carry  this  noble 
purpose  into  effect,  and  from  that  period  to  the  present 
time  the  institution  has  experienced  the  favor  of  a  kind 
Providence. 

*'  The  trustees  have  now,  for  the  first  time,  the  oppor- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  179 

tunity  of  delivering  over  their  keys  and  charter  to  one  in 
whom  they,  and  the  public,  have  the  highest  confidence. 
That  the  merciful  God,  who  has  hitherto  been  pleased  to 
smile  on  the  eftbrts  to  disseminate  light  and  knowledge, 
may  aid  and  support  in  the  arduous  duties  this  day  as- 
signed you,  will  be  the  fervent  prayer  of  the  trustees." 

Dr.  AVilson  filled  the  oifice  of  president  fifteen  years 
with  honor  and  fidelity,  when  advancing  age  led  him  to 
resign.     He  died  April  17,  1851. 

The  two  townships,  Athens  and  Alexander,  were  appro- 
priated entirely  to  the  use  of  the  university,  and  when 
thev  were  settled,  the  inhabitants  found  themselves  with- 
out  lands  for  the  support  of  common  schools.  In  his 
notes.  Judge  Cutler  writes  : 

"  Having  been  myself  a  member  of  the  convention  that 
formed  the  constitution  of  the  state,  I  was  aware  that  the 
United  States,  by  articles  of  compact  at  the  time  the  state 
became  a  member  of  the  American  confederacv,  were 
bound  to  appropriate  a  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  lands 
within  its  boundaries  for  the  use  of  schools ;  and  that 
where  section  sixteen  was  otherw^ise  appropriated,  a  sec- 
tion (640  acres)  should  be  supplied  from  the  public  lands 
for  the  use  of  such  township.  I  accordingly  wrote  to 
Hon.  Samuel  F.  Vinton,  then  in  Congress,  calling  his  at- 
tention to  the  subject." 

Mr.  Vinton  replied,  February  25,  1824: 

"  On  the  receipt  of  your  last,  I  called  upon  Mr.  Graham, 
the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  OflSce  (Mr.  Craw- 
ford, the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  as  you  know,  being 
sick  and  confined  to  his  house),  on  the  subject  of  the 
school  sections  for  the  Athens  University  lands.  Mr. 
Graham  promised  me  he  would  examine  the  matter,  and 
call  on  the  secretary  and  give  him  his  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  he  seemed,  however,  to  have  an  idea  that  the  con- 
tract with  the  Ohio  Company  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  (and  not  the  compact  wath  the  Ohio  Convention) 
was  to  be  the  rule  by  which  to  determine  the  validity  of 
the  claim  by  the  townships.  I  was  under  the  same  im- 
pression until  a  few  days  since,  and  with  that  idea,  on  an 


180  Life  of  Ejyhraim  Cutler. 

examination  of  the  contract  of  the  Ohio  Company,  last 
fall,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  these  townships  were 
not  entitled  to  school  lands.  Strange' as  it  may  seem,  it 
did  not  occur  to  me  that  the  compact  with  Ohio  extended 
to  their  case.  A  few  days  before  the  receipt  of  yours,  I 
had  occasion  to  examine  a  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Miami  Uniyersity  township  for  common  school  lands, 
which,  it  occurred  to  me,  rested  on  the  same  principle  as 
the  Athens  townships.  The  opinion  of  the  committee  of 
public  lands  in  that  case  was  that  the  township  had  a  right 
to  school  lands  ;  and  they  directed  the  member  who  ofiered 
the  petition,  to  apply  to  the  Secretary  of  Treasury,  and 
agreed  to  report  in  fayor  of  the  township,  if  the  secretary 
should  refuse  to  make  an  appropriation  under  the  law. 

"Mr.  Graham  was  so  much  engaged  at  the  time  of  my 
interyiew",  aboye  mentioned,  that  I  could  not  explain  my 
reasons  for  thinking  he  was  wrong;  and  told  him  I  would 
make  a  written  argument  and  forward  to  him,  which  I 
did,  setting  out  my  reasons  at  considerable  length.  If 
that  should  not  satisfy  the  commissioner  and  secretary,  I 
shall  request  it  to  be  laid  before  the  attorney  general ;  and 
in  the  last  resort  I  will  lay  it  before  Congress.  I  think 
the  committee  on  public  lands  would  report  in  their  fayor. 
If  the  secretary  should  admit  the  right  of  these  townships 
I  will  request  him  to  direct  the  Register  and  Receiyer  of 
the  Land  OiRce  at  Marietta  to  make  the  selection  and 
write  you  word." 

Mr.  Vinton  announces  the  success  of  his  application  to 
the  Secretary  of  Treasury,  in  a  letter  dated  Washington, 
April  15,  1824 : 

"  I  haye  at  last  received  the  decision  of  Mr.  Crawford  in 
fayor  of  the  universit}'  townships  in  Athens  county.  The 
selection  ought  to  be  made  before  the  sales  of  public  lands 
on  the  first  Monday  of  next  month.  To  enable  you  to 
select  to  the  better  advantage,  by  my  request  the  Register 
of  the  Marietta  Land  Office  will  be  instructed  to  make  the 
reservation." 

Another  important  service  rendered  by  Mr.  Vinton  may 
be  mentioned  here.     The  school  lands  of  Ohio,  a  splendid 


Life  of  Ephraini  Cutler.  181 

endowment  of  one  thirty-sixth  of  her  whole  surface,  was 
vested  hy  an  act  of  Congress,  March  3,  1803,  in  the  legis- 
lature of  the  state,  in  trust,  for  the  use  of  schools.  When 
it  was  found  desirable  to  sell  these  lands  and  establish  a 
school  fund,  it  was  doubted  whether  the  legislature  had 
the  right  to  thus  dispose  of  them,  Mr.  Vinton  procured 
the  passage  of  a  law  which  empowered  the  legislature  to 
sell  the  school  lands  within  the  borders  of  the  state,  and 
"  invest  the  proceeds  in  some  permanent,  productive 
fund,  the  income  to  be  forever  applied  to  the  support  of 
schools." 

The  benefits  of  this  law,  which  at  first  applied  to  Ohio 
only,  have  extended  to  the  new  states,  and  thus  secured  to 
posterity,  from  waste  and  misapplication,  this  valuable  gift 
of  the  national  government. 

In  a  letter  to  Professor  E.  B.  Andrews,  written  July  16, 
1853,  the  Hon.  A.  G.  BroAvn,  of  Athens,  writes: 

"  In  1820  Judge  Cutler  w^as  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Ohio  University,  which  office  he 
held  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  having  always  manifested 
the  greatest  zeal  and  anxiety  for  the  progress  and  prosper- 
ity of  the  institution  ;  and  contributed  by  his  counsels  and 
labors  to  that  end,  so  long  as  his  physical  powers  would 
permit.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years  on  the  committee 
of  finance,  where  his  services  were  of  the  very  highest 
importance,  I  am  aware  that  ho  labored  assiduously  for 
the  interests  of  the  university  while  a  member  of  the  leg- 
islature, from  about  1822  to  1825." 

Presidential  Campaign  of  1824. 

The  presidential  campaigns  of  1816  and  1820  excited 
little  interest  in  the  Western  country ;  the  lull  in  political 
agitation  during  Mr.  Monroe's  administration  was,  how- 
ever, disturbed  as  the  time  approached  when  his  successor 
was  to  be  chosen,  and  an  unusual  number  of  candidates 
appeared  in  the  field.  Three  of  these  were  members  of 
Mr.  Monroe's  cabinet:  John  Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachu- 
setts, Secretary  of  State  ;  John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Caro- 
lina,  Secretary  of  War;    and  William  H.  Crawford,   of 


182  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

Georgia,  Secretary  of  Treasury,  all  able  statesmen  ;  Henry 
Clay,  the  eloquent  speaker  of  the  house  in  Congress ;  and 
Gen.  Andrew  Jackson,  made  famous  by  his  military  success. 
Of  these,  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  was  the  favorite  of 
Ohio.  Mr.  Calhoun  withdrew  from  the  contest,  and  was 
nominated  for  the  vice-presidency. 

Of  all  the  candidates.  Judge  Cutler  preferred  Mr.  Adams, 
and  labored  earnestly  to  advance  his  interests  in  the  state. 
Letters,  written  to  him  by  intelligent  and  active  politicians, 
from  which  the  following  extracts  are  made,  give  a  good 
idea  of  a  rather  exceptional  campaign. 

The  Hon.  Levi  Barber,  representative  from  Ohio,  writes 
from  Washington,  December  21,  1822  : 

"I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  a  majority  of  the  legislature 
are  opposed  to  expressing  an  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the 
next  president.  The  idea  of  some  holding  back  in  ex- 
pectation that  Clinton  will  be  brought  forward,  is  most 
extraordinary.  I  have  little  doubt  but  the  contest  will 
ultimately  be  between  Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr.  Clay,  and  as 
little  doubt  but  all  the  "West  will  support  the  latter  gen- 
tleman. All  the  representatives  from  Ohio  are  decidedly 
for  Mr.  Clay.  Mr.  Clinton  is  altogether  out  of  the  ques- 
tion." 

A  gentleman  writes  from  Marietta,  January  7,  1823  : 

"  I  do  most  sincerely  hope  that  another  attempt  Avill  be 
made  by  the  Ohio  Legislature  to  nominate  a  president,  or 
rather  a  man  to  till  the  presidential  chair,  which  I  most 
sincerely  hope  may  be  Mr.  Clay." 

The  Hon.  Samuel  F.  Vinton,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Barber 

as  representative  from  the  Seventh  Congressional  District 

of  Ohio,  and  was  then  just  entering  upon  his  long  and 

useful    career,    writes    from    Washington,   December   14, 

■1823: 

"Yours  of  the  5th  instant  came  to  hand  last  night,  by 
which  I  perceive  that  your  body  is  organized  and  ready  to 
proceed  to  business.  You  advert  to  a  report  that  Mr. 
Clinton  is  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  ask  what  is 
said  here  about  it.  By  last  night's  mail  we  get  informa- 
tion of  a  nomination  of  him  at  Steubenville,  and  a  rumor 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  183 

of  one  at  Cincinnati.  The  probability  of  Mr.  Clinton's 
coming  forward  has  been  spoken  of  here  for  some  days 
past.  Mr.  C.'s  Xew  York  friends  declare  themselves  in 
earnest  about  it.  while  the  Bucktails  say  they  will  not 
support  him — that  he  can  not  get  the  support  of  his  own 
state,  and  that  his  friends  do  not  intend  to  run  him — their 
object  being  to  bring  Mr.  C.  before  the  people  again  in 
this  collateral  way  with  a  view  of  running  him  at  their 
next  gubernatorial  election.  The  Bucktails  are  very  de- 
cided in  their  declarations  that  they  will  not  support  Mr. 
Clinton  ;  but  at  the  same  time  express,  or  rather  feel,  an 
evident  desire  that  Ohio  should  declare  herself  for  him. 
The  solution  of  this  apparent  paradox  you  will  easily 
make  when  I  inform  you  that,  with  the  exception  of  one 
or  two  of  that  part  of  the  ]!^ew  York  delegation,  they  are 
decided  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford,  and  more  actively  en- 
gaged than  anybody  else  in  getting  up  a  caucus.  Whether 
Mr.  Clinton  does  really  intend  to  come  forward  you  can 
form  as  good,  perhaps  better,  opinion  in  Ohio  tlian  we  can 
here ;  as  we  last  night  learnt  from  letters,  that  communi- 
cations had  lately  been  forwarded  from  'S.  Y.  b}'  Mr.  C.'s 
friends  to  different  parts  of  the  state,  from  which  the 
Steubenville  nomination  originated. 

"ISText  as  to  a  caucus,  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of 
managing,  maneuvering,  counseling,  and  advising  for  some 
daj'S  past  upon  the  ways  and  means  of  getting  one  up. 
Mr.  Crawford's  friends  are  very  desirous  of  making  the 
experiment ;  the  supporters  of  all  the  other  candidates 
are,  in  general,  equally  desirous  of  preventing  it,  or,  if 
tried,  of  breaking  it  down. 

"  The  Bucktails,  who  are  a  large  majority  of  New^  York, 
are  anxious  to  have  it  held  immediately,  and  it  is  said  that 
next  Saturday  has  been  fixed  upon  as  the  time.  Their 
object  is  to  produce  an  impression  upon  the  legislature  of 
JSTew"  York,  which  convenes  the  1st  of  next  month.  There 
is,  unquestionably,  a  large  majority  of  Congress  opposed 
to  any  measure  of  the  kind,  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  the 
best  informed  here,  that  no  caucus  will  be  held,  and  that 
after   vaporing   awhile   the    project   will    be    abandoned. 


184  Life  of  Eiohraim   Cutler. 

There  is  a  rumor  that  you  have  a  resolution  on  the  sub- 
ject of  a  caucus  here  before  you,  but  what  it  is  we  have 
not  learned." 

The  Hon.  Benjamin  Ruggles,*  who  for  eighteen  years 
held  the  position  of  United  States  Senator  from  Ohio, 
w^rites  from  Washington,  February  8,  1824 : 

"  Your  letter  of  the  26th  of  Januarv  has  been  received. 
I  thank  you  for  the  information  contained  in  it.  You  will 
see  by  the  'Intelligencer'  that  a  caucus  is  to  be  held  on 
Saturday  next  for  nominating  candidates  for  president 
and  vice-president.  Great  exertions  have  been  made  to 
have  the  ReiDublican  friends  of  all  the  candidates  unite ; 
but  from  some  subcaucusing  which  has  taken  place  among 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Adams,  General  Jackson,  and 
Mr.  Calhoun,  it  is  believed  that  many  of  them  will  not 
attend.  Although  there  will  not  be  as  many  members 
present  as  have  been  on  some  similar  occasions,  yet  it  is 
believed  that  Mr.  Crawford  will  receive  more  votes  than 
Mr.  Monroe  did  in  1816,  which  was  sixty-five.  Some  are 
of  opinion  that  he  will  have  eighty.  This  measure  seems 
to  be  called  for  by  the  resolutions  that  have  been  adopted 
by  the  members  of  several  of  the  state  legislatures  to  sup- 
port a  Congressional  nomination.  I  attended  a  similar 
meeting  in  1816,  when  Mr.  Monroe  was  nominated,  and 
have  concluded  to  attend  the  present.  Out  of  the  five 
candidates,  but  one  can  succeed,  and  it  is  thouo;ht  bv 
many  of  the  oldest  and  most  substantial  Republicans  that 
an  attempt  ought  to  be  made  here  in  the  old  way  to  con- 
centrate in  some  measure,  if  possible,  public  sentiment  on 
this  subject.  Whether  such  an  object  will  be  effected  re- 
mains to  be  determined.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  it 
will  do  much  toward  it. 


*  Benjamin  Ruggles,  born  at  Woodstock,  Coi.necticut,  February  21, 
1783.  A  lawyer,  he  came  to  Marietta.  Ohio,  in  1807,  and  was  elected 
by  the  legislature  in  1810  president  judge  of  the  third  circuit,  and  re- 
moved to  St.  Clairsville.  He  was  an  able  and  learned  jurist.  In  1815 
he  was  elected  United  States  Senator,  and  was  re-elected  in  1821  and 
in  1827,  continuing  in  the  senate  eighteen  years,  rendering  valuable 
service  to  the  state  and  nation.     He  died  September  2,  1857. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  185' 

"  The  partisan  warfare  that  has  been  kept  up  so  long  in 
favor  of  each  of  the  candidates,  and  the  ill-blood  and  bit- 
terness of  feeling  which  it  has  created,  has  become  painful 
and  irksome  to  the  great  body  of  the  people.  Unequivo- 
cal indications  have  been  given  from  almost  all  parts  of 
the  Union  of  their  readiness  to  unite  on  some  distinguished 
Republican,  if  he  could  be  presented  to  them  in  a  satisfac- 
tory and  acceptable  manner.  No  mode  has  been  suggested 
or  devised,  which  appears  less  exceptionable  than  the  old- 
fashioned  and  Ung  practiced  one  now  proposed.  The  New 
England  Republicans,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  learn  their 
sentiments,  prefer  Mr.  Crawford  next  to  Mr.  Adams,  and 
if  they  can  not  carry  their  favorite  will,  it  is  believed, 
cheerfully  unite  on  Mr.  Crawford. 

"  I  have  always  felt  very  friendly  to  Mr.  Clay,  and  I 
regret  ver}^  much  that  he,  and  his  friends,  should  not  have 
felt  a  willingness  to  unite  in  this  measure.  He  urged  such 
a  course  of  proceeding  eight  years  ago,  when  the  contest 
was  between  Mr.  Monroe  and  Mr.  Crawford,  and  made  a 
speech  in  favor  of  the  pretensions  of  the  former  in  caucus. 
He  also  attended  a  similar  meeting  in  1812,  when  Mr. 
Madison  was  nominated.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  also  in  favor 
of  a  caucus  when  he,  himself,  was  not  a  candidate,  and 
has,  I  believe,  attended  two. 

"  Much  has  been  said  concerning  the  vice-presidency, 
and  several  persons  have  been  spoken  of.  Gallatin,  Yates, 
Root,  and  Rush  have  been  mentioned.  Gallatin,  I  believe, 
will  be  nominated.  He  is  a  man  of  great  weight  of  char- 
acter, and  possesses  talents  of  the  first  order." 

Mr.  Ruggles  presided  over  the  caucus  referred  to  in  his 
letter,  and  by  it  William  H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  was 
nominated  for  the  presidency. 

The  Hon.  John  C.  Wright,  eminent  as  a  lawyer  and 
judge,  was  then  a  representative  in  Congress  from  Ohio. 
He  writes  from  Washington,  February  23,  1824: 

"We  have  nothing  of  great  importance.  The  tariff  bill 
is  in  progress,  and  I  think  will  pass,  with  some  trifling 
amendments,  if  we  do  not  suffer  its  opponents  to  talk 
away  all  the  time  allowed  for  passing  it. 


186  Life  of  Ephraini  Cutler. 

"As  to  the  president,  we  liave  nothing  since  the  caucus, 
except  that  it  is  said  Mr.  Calhoun  is  abandoned,  and  no 
longer  a  candidate.  It  is  certain  his  friends  in  Pennsyl- 
vania have  gone  over  to  Jackson,  and  all  agree  that  Jack- 
son will  get  the  vote  of  that  state.  It  is  time  for  sober, 
thinking  men  to  consider  whether  it  comports  with  the 
dignity  and  well  being  of  this  nation  to  have  a  military 
chieftain,  who  has  frequently  been  known  to  be  too  violent 
to  be  restrained  by  law,  to  rule  over  us,  or  whether  our 
constitution  would  be  safe  in  his  hands."  If  such  be  the 
will  of  the  people,  I  have  no  complaint  to  make." 

Hon.  S.  F.  Vinton  writes,  February  25,  1824 : 

"  Since  the  caucus  there  has  been  another  blow  up  here. 
Calhoun's  party  has  bolted  and  gone  over  to  Old  Hickory. 
Thus  is  ended  the  first  act  in  the  play,  and  one  of  the 
actors  has  made  his  exit,  not  to  return  again.  This  new 
phase  in  the  political  hemisphere  has  given  a  new  aspect 
to  the  affairs  of  Jackson.  In  the  common  language,  he  is 
looking  up  wonderfull3\  Clay  is  said  to  be  gaining  in 
New  York,  but  in  my  opinion  no  dependence  can  be 
placed  upon  the  coquettish  airs  of  that  state.  She  may, 
or  may  not,  jilt  her  suitors,  just  as  suits  herself." 

Mr.  Francis  Dodge,  then  a  well  known  resident  of 
Georgetown,  D.  C,  writes,  March  9,  1824,  as  follows: 

"Yours  of  the  19th  ult.  was  duly  received,  and  I  have 
been  endeavorino-  to  find  out  what  mav  favor  your  views 
in  relation  to  the  election  of  J.  Q.  Adams  to  the  presi- 
dency, an  event  which  I  should  rejoice  to  see  accom- 
plished, under  the  conviction  that  he  combines  (almost  to 
perfection)  all  the  requisites  for  that  high  station. 

"  You  will  find  that  he  introduced  the  resolutions  in  the 
senate  which  produced  Gallatin's  report  on  internal  im- 
provements; therefore,  was  the  true  author  of  them.  I 
send  you  a  National  Register  of  November  last,  in  which 
you  will  find  those  resolutions.  I  can  also  state  positively 
that  Mr.  Adams  has,  recently  (and  while  the  internal  im-. 
provement  question  was  before  Congress),  expressed  him- 
self clearly  in  favor  of  the  constitutional  power  in  the 
government  to  do  this  act;  and  he  maybe  fully  calculated 


Life  of  Ephraini    Cutler.  187 

on  as  favorable  to  internal  improvements.  He  is  also  in 
favor  of  a  revision  of  the  taritf  to  a  certain  extent ;  and 
generally  in  favor  of  protecting  manufactures  in  all  cases 
where  it  can  be  clone,  without  too  much  aii'ecting  the  other 
great  interests,  I  really  hope  your  exertions  to  give  him 
your  state  vote  will  be  crowned  with  success." 

The  Hon.  Timothy  Fuller,  a  representative  in  Congress 
from  Massachusetts,  writes  from  Washington,  27th  March, 
1824: 

"A  friend  of  yours  having  informed  me  that  you. are 
desirous  of  obtaining  such  newspapers  or  essays  as  may 
tend  to  give  the  people  in  your  part  of  the  country  a  just 
view  of  the  character  of  Mr.  John  Q.  Adams,  I  have  for 
several  weeks  past  sent  you  the  National  Journal,  printed 
in  this  place,  and  conducted  with  much  ability ;  and  also 
several  other  newspapers  of  the  same  political  character 
and  bearing. 

"I  now  send  you  several  pieces  originally  published  in 
the  Salem  (Mass.)  Register,  a  paper  which  has  displayed 
great  ability  and  unwearied  zeal  in  giving  the  public  a  fair 
view  of  this  subject,  so  important  at  the  present  time  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  on  the  eve  of  the  great 
national  election. 

"  The  general  opinion  here  is  that  Mr.  Clay  is  so  feebly 
supported,  that,  should  tlie  election  finally  come  to  the 
house  of  representatives,  he  has  not  the  least  chance  of  be- 
ing one  of  the  three  highest.  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Crawford, 
and  Gen.  Jackson  will  probably  be  the  three  candidates 
before  the  house ;  but  if  ISTew  York,  as  is  now  confidently 
expected,  shall  abandon  Mr.  Crawford,  who  never  has  had 
any  thing  like  a  majority  even  in  the  legislature,  and  should 
she  declare  for  Mr.  Adams,  who  is  far  before  any  of  the 
other  candidates  there,  then  the  election  will  not  come  to 
the  house.  The  six  Eastern  States  stand  firm  for  Mr. 
Adams.  iS^o  other  candidate  has  the  least  chance  in  any 
of  them  (I  speak  from  unquestionable  sources  of  informa- 
tion). New  Jersey  and  Maryland  have  a  majority  in  his 
favor.  We  hope  also  that  New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Hlinois  will  declare  for  him.     If  this  should  take  place, 


188  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

even  Virginia  would  hold  out  no  longer  for  Mr.  Crawford; 
and  Mr.  Adams,  their  representatives  generally  admit,  is 
their  next  man  after  Mr.  Crawford.  I  hazard  nothing  in 
saying  that  Mr.  A.  is  considered  here  the  most  prominent 
candidate. 

"Be  so  good  as  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  this,  and 
to  communicate  any  information  in  relation  to  prospects 
in  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  the  Western  States  which  you 
may  possess." 

Again,  on  the  29th  of  April,  Mr.  Fuller  writes': 

"  I  was  much  gratified  at  receiving  your  favor  of  the  6th 
of  April,  and  particularly  so  at  the  information  it  contains. 
The  efforts  which  you  and  others  are  making  in  Ohio  I 
trust  will  be  successful,  and  they  contribute  very  much  to 
animate  and  encourage  his  friends  in  other  parts  of  the 
Union.  Several  gentlemen  of  the  first  information  from 
Maryland  assured  me  that  Mr.  Adams  is  so  firmly  sup- 
ported in  Maryland  that  though  they  vote  in  districts  they 
are  confident  he  will  receive  every  vote,  which  is  much 
better  than  has  generally  been  expected  heretofore.  We 
feel  equally  confident  as  to  New  Jersey-.  As  toi^ew  York 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  are  for  Adams,  and  we  con- 
fidently expect  they  will  bring  their  legislature  to  the 
proper  and  only  true  policy — to  obey  their  constituents. 

"  From  various  sources  we  learn  that  in  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolina  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  are  numer- 
ous and  increasing.  Virginia  prefers  Mr.  Adams  next 
after  Mr.  Crawford,  and  in  my  opinion  they  will  find  their 
true  policy  is  to  abandon  Mr.  C.  before  the  election  of 
electors.  For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  wish  to  see  Mr.  C. 
withdraw,  as  it  might  make  an  impulse  in  favor  of  Clay 
in  some  very  powerful  states. 

"  Mr.  Edmund's  memorial  is  a  document  of  great  im- 
portance. It  will  induce  many  to  read  and  examine  the 
subject,  and  the  loss  of  so  large  sums  of  money  by  the 
western  banks  ought  to  be  fully  explained,  otherwise  Mr. 
C.'s  reputation  will  very  much  suffer. 

"  Mr.  Adams  informs  me  that  he  was  well  acquainted 
with  your  father,  and  is  happy  to  hear  of  your  prosperity 


Life  of  Ephraim    Cutler.  189 

in  the  state  of  your  choice.  Mr.  Clay's  friends  here  ap- 
pear very  conlident,  but  I  can  not  learn  from  them  that 
they  have  any  hopes  of  the  Atlantic  states,  except  Penn- 
sylvania ;  but  the  best  information,  I  think,  is,  that  there 
is  no  inclination  to  support  him  there,  even  if  Jackson 
should  be  abandoned,  of  which  there  is  no  immediate 
prospect. 

"  The  plot  to  raise  an  odium  against  Mr.  Monroe  and 
Gen.  Jackson  b}'  means  of  Senator  Lawrie's  letters,  etc., 
is  fast  recoiling  upon  his  own  head,  as  will  all  unworthy 
attempts,  when  they  are  fully  disclosed  to  the  people. 

*'  I  showed  your  letter  to  Mr.  Nelson,  who  represents 
the  district  formerly  represented  by  your  father.  He  is  a 
man  of  excellent  understanding  and  much  experience." 

From  Cincinnati  Air.  H.  D.  Ward  writes,  on  April  14, 
1824 : 

"  Strange  !  Wild  !  Infatuated  !  All  for  Jackson  !  His 
victory  at  ISTew  Orleans  was  not  more  unaccountable  than 
his  political  success  is  becoming.  Two-thirds  here  are 
said  to  be  for  Jackson.  But,  surely,  in  February  last,  his 
name  was  not  mentioned  in  the  3Iiami  country. 

"  It  was  like  an  influenza,  and  will  pass  oft'  like  it, 
whether  before  election  or  not,  is  doubted  or  maintained 
according  to  the  feelings  and  wishes  of  the  dift'erent 
speakers.  I  hope  it  will  pass  oft,  but  should  be  willing  to 
compromise  so  far  as  to  elect  a  pledged  ticket  for  Jackson 
and  Adams,  that  should  be  free  to  vote  for  either  of  the 
two  for  president,  and  the  other  vice-president,  as  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  may  require.  A  bold  front  and 
determined  courage  alone  will  succeed  in  this  measure. 
Jackson's  friends  think  tliey  shall  carry  all  before  them. 
If  they  try  it.  Clay's  certainly  will ;  and  if  the  influenza 
passes  oft'  in  season  the  patients  will  vote  coolly  and  dis- 
passionately for  the  best  man — Mr.  Adams. 

"  Every  effort  should  be  made,  as  it  has  been  made,  but 
should  no  hope  in  the  last  case  be  left,  I  regard  Mr.  J.  as 
the  most  independent  of  the  southern  gentry,  one  on 
whom  they  will  be  least  likely  to  unite  ;  and  if  they  unite, 
one  from  whom  they  will  gather  the  least  flatteries,  there- 


190  Life  of  EpJiraiiii   Cutler. 

fore  I  believe  I  would  vote  for  liim  sooner  than  for  either 
of  the  others.     A  strange  business,  this  politics  !  " 

On  the  24th  of  April,  oSIr.  Ward  writes  again  from  Cin- 
cinnati : 

"  Yesterday  was  the  Adams  meeting — a  glorious  meet- 
ing!  Details  in  the  papers.  A  great  party  for  Jackson 
in  New  York — but  it  will  not  signify.  Jackson's  party 
has  sprung  uj)  in  an  hour,  and  possibly  it  will  perish  as 
soon.  It  is  not  held  toe:ether  bv  any  tie  of  a  substantial 
kind.  He  will  not  be  supported  in  Ohio  if  Mr.  A.  is,  at 
least  I  think  so.  The  friends  here  of  Mr.  Adams  are 
hearty  friends,  and  may  be,  like  himself,  relied  upon. 
Surely  this  Jackson  fever  will  delight  the  prospects  of 
Mr.  Clay." 

June  9,  1824,  a  large  and  respectable  meeting  of  the 
citizens  of  Washington  county  was  held  at  the  court-house 
in  Marietta,  of  which  Judge  E.  Cutler  was  chairman,  and 
Dr.  S.  P.  Ilildreth  secretary.  At  this  meeting  a  commit- 
tee was  appointed,  consisting  of  E.  Cutler,  iSTahum  Ward, 
and  S.  P.  Hildreth,  "  to  correspond  with  the  state  central 
committee  (at  Columbus),  and  the  several  county  commit- 
tees; and  to  use  all  honorable  measures  to  insure  the  elec- 
tion of  John  Quincy  Adams  to  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States."  This  committee  wrote  to  Joel  Buttles, 
Esq.,  Col.  James  Kilbourn,  John  R.  Parish,  Esq.,  David 
Smith,  Esq.,  and  Dr.  Lincoln  Goodale  of  the  state  central 
committee :  "  We  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that 
the  meeting  on  the  9th  inst.  unanimously  resolved  to  sup- 
port John  Quincy  Adams  for  president,  and  A.  Jackson 
for  vice-president.  They  also  resolved,  nem.  con.,  to  sup- 
port the  ticket  recommended  by  you  for  electors.  We 
have  good  reason  to  believe  that  these  resolutions  are  in 
unison  with  the  sentiments  of  a  large  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  counties  of  Washington,  Athens,  Meigs,  and 
Gallia." 

The  committee  also  prepared  and  circulated  "An  ad- 
dress to  the  free  and  independent  electors  of  the  Seventh 
Congressional  District."     In  it  they  say  :    "  Mr.  Crawford, 


Life  of  E'phraini   Cutler.  191 

General  Jackson,  Mr.  Clav,  and  Mr.  Adams  are  all  candi- 
dates  for  this  high  station  ;  they  are  all  eminent  men,  and 
have  all  performed  eminent  services  for  their  country. 
We  are  proud  that  our  country  can  boast  of  possessing 
such  men.  It  is  not  our  partiality  for  our  candidate  as  a 
man  that  principally  influences  us,  but  it  is  the  policy 
which  Avill  guide  him,  if  elected,  that  we  regard  as  of  im- 
portance. 

"And,  again,  Mr.  Adams  was  the  first  man  that  sug- 
gested in  Congress  the  propriety  of  entering  upon  a  sys- 
tem of  internal  improvements.  He  has  no  constitutional 
scruples  on  this  point.  He  believes  that  our  national  com- 
pact was  entered  into  for  the  purpose  of  benfiting  us  in 
all  things  that  concern  the  national  welfare.  His  counsel 
to  his  countrymen  has  been,  'Rely  on  your  own  resources, 
depend  on  yourselves,  he  independent  of  the  ivorld,'  and  he 
will  square  his  actions  by  these  maxims.  Unpledged,  he 
will  stand  proudly  pre-eminent  in  steering  our  national 
afl:airs  free  from  the  influence  of  faction  or  party.  While 
we  disclaim  being  solely  influenced  by  the  superior  attain- 
ments and  moral  character  of  Mr.  Adams,  we  do  not  shrink 
from  a  comparison  with  any  man  living.  He  was,  indeed, 
bred  a  statesman ;  he  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Washing- 
ton, who  trusted  and  employed  him,  and  highly  approved 
his  services ;  he  secured  the  like  confidence  of  every  suc- 
ceeding president,  and  lias  been  intrusted  with  the  most 
diflicult  concerns  of  the  government  in  highly  responsible 
situations,  and  has  not  only  gained  the  entire  approbation 
of  his  own  country,  but  lias  acquired  the  unqualified  ap- 
plause of  the  first  politicians  in  Europe." 

Mr.  Edwin  Putnam  (son  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam)  writes 
to  Judge  Cutler  from  Putnam,  July  20,  1824: 

"  The  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  in  this  part  of  the  state 
appear  to  be  sanguine  in  the  success  of  his  electoral  ticket, 
but  I  am  still  of  opinion  that  the  Clay  ticket  will  carry 
the  election  through  the  state.  From  all  that  I  can  learn, 
Mr.  Clay  stands  no  chance  of  being  president,  or  of  even 
coming  into  the  house.  The  contest  in  Congress  will  be 
between  Adams,  Crawford,  and  Jackson.     Louisiana  has 


192  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

declared  for  Jackson,  and  I  am  afraid  he  will  be  the  man. 
But  we  must  do  what  we  can  for  Adams.  ''Tis  not  in 
mortals  to  command  success,  but  we  will  do  more,  we  will 
deserve  it.'  " 

The  Seventh  District,  and  probably  others,  gave  Adams 
a  majority,  but  the  Clay  ticket  was  successful  in  Ohio. 

The  Hon.  S.  F.  Vinton  writes  from  Washington,  Decem- 
ber 21,  1824: 

"  It  is  now  reduced  to  a  certainty  that  Gen.  Jackson, 
Mr.  Adams,  and  Mr.  Crawford  will  come  before  Congress 
as  candidates  for  the  presidency.  The  friends  of  Gen. 
Jackson  are  very  confident  of  success,  and  those  of  Mr. 
Adams  are  by  no  means  without  hopes.  Very  little  is 
said  on  the  subject,  and  as  yet  no  excitement  prevails 
here." 

The  Hon.  Timothy  Fuller,*  in  a  letter  dated  Washing- 
ton, 8th  January,  1825,  says  : 

"  During  the  last  winter  and  spring  I  bad  several  letters 
from  you  on  the  subject  of  the  election  which  was  then 
pending  for  president,  etc.  Your  exertions,  together  with 
those  of  Mr.  Adams's  friends  in  Ohio,  were  of  the  most 
disinterested  and  patriotic  character.  They  were  not,  in- 
deed, completely  successful  in  choosing  electors,  but  the 
respectable  support  they  gave  him  may,  nevertheless,  en- 
courage your  representatives  in  voting  with  independence 
at  the  final  ballot,  instead  of  being  restrained  and  cramped 
in  the  discharge  of  their  high  duty.  We  have  great  hopes 
of  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  and  I  am  free  to  declare  that  the 
most  dispassionate  and  best  informed  persons  are  of  opin- 
ion that  Mr.  Adams's  election  is  more  probable  than  that 
of  Gen.  Jackson.  It  will  not  be  surprising  if  he  should 
have  sixteen  votes  (states)  in  his  favor,  which  will  be  a 
strong  support,  and  highly  favorable  to  a  peaceful  and 
popular  administration. 

"  I  should  be  much  gratified  to  have  a  letter  from  you 
with  your  remarks  upon   the   course  expected  from  the 


*The  Hon.  Timothy  Fuller  w;is  the  father  and  early  educator  of 
Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli,  well  known  in  literary  circles. 


Life  of  JEp/iraim   Cutler.  193 

members  of  your  delegation.  I  should  also  be  pleased  to 
know  whether  the  friends  of  Adams  and  Jackson  in  Ohio, 
at  the  election  of  electors,  in  an}'-  part  of  the  state  united 
against  the  Clay  ticket." 

The  Hon.  Philemon  Beecher,  an  able  lawyer,  and  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  Ohio,  who  was  for  several  years  a 
representative  in  Congress,  writes  from  Washington,  Jan- 
uary 19,  1825  : 

"Yours,  dated  the  10th,  was  received  yesterday.  I  read 
an  old  friend's  letter  Avith  no  ordinary  pleastire.  First  of 
all,  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  are  well ;  secondly,  that 
the  canal  is  likely  to  succeed.  .  .  .  As  to  the  presi- 
dent, I  am  for  Adams,  and  Ohio  will  vote  for  him  if  the 
other  states  will  agree  upon  him,  so  that  three  or  four 
states  in  the  West  can  elect  him  by  so  voting. 

"  I  do  not  know  how  the  people  of  Ohio  would  vote  as 
between  Jackson  and  Adams,  but  I  am  convinced  that 
Adams  is  best  qualified,  and  that  is  enough  for  me.  It  is 
now  entirely  uncertain  who  will  be  the  president.  How- 
ever, I  think  the  chance  of  Adams  is  the  best  now,  but 
these  appearances  change  very  frequently." 

When  the  result  of  the  election  in  the  different  states 
was  made  known,  it  became  evident  that  the  Electoral 
College  would  not  give  to  either  candidate  the  132  votes 
then  necessary  to  elect  the  president ;  and  that  the  house 
of  representatives  at  Washington  must  decide  the  matter, 
as  was  the  case  in  1801,  when  Jefferson  was  first  made 
president. 

The  rules  to  be  observed  by  the  house  in  conducting  the 
election  of  the  president,  were  reported  by  the  Hon.  J.  C. 
Wright,  of  Ohio,  chairman  of  the  select  committee  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose.  On  the  9th  of  February,  1825, 
"  at  12  o'clock  precisely,"  the  senate  of  the  United  States 
entered,  and  were  seated  in  the  hall  of  the  house,  when 
the  certificates  of  the  votes  of  the  Electoral  College  were 
opened  and  counted,  and  the  President  of  the  Senate  de- 
clared that  no  person  had  received  a  majority  of  the  votes 
13 


194  Life  of  Ephraun   Cutler. 

given  for  President  of  the  United  States;  that  Andrew 
Jackson,  John  Qnincy  Adams,  and  WilHam  II.  Crawford 
had  received  the  highest  number  of  votes ;  and  that  from 
these  persons  it  now  devolved  upon  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives to  choose  the  president.  John  C.  Calhoun,  of 
South  Carolina,  having  received  182  electoral  votes,  was 
declared  vice-president.  The  senate  then  retired.  The 
roll  of  the  house  was  called,  and  every  member,  except 
one,  being  present,  they  proceeded  immediately  to  ballot 
by  states.  There  were  at  that  time  twenty-four  states  in 
the  Union.  It  was  found  that  thirteen  states  had,  upon 
the  first  ballot,  voted  for  John  Q.  Adams;  these  were  the 
six  ISTew  England  states,  with  New  York,  Maryland,  Ohio, 
Kentuck}^,  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Louisiana;  seven  states 
had  voted  for  Andrew  Jackson,  namely :  ISTew  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mis- 
sissippi, and  Indiana ;  four  states  voted  for  William  H. 
Crawford,  which  were  Delaware,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
and  Georgia.  The  speaker  (Mr.  Clay)  then  announced 
that  John  Quincy  Adams,  having  a  majority  of  the  votes 
of  the  United  States,  was  duly  elected  president  of  the 
same  for  four  years,  commencing  with  the  4th  of  March, 
1825,  and  thus  the  tenth  presidential  election  was  brought 
to  a  close. 

Many  years  later  Judge  Cutler  met  and  formed  a  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  John  Quincy  Adams.  This  was 
in  ISTovember,  1843.  Mr.  Adams  had  been  in  Cincinnati 
for  the  purpose  of  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  astro- 
nomical observatory  at  that  place,  and  on  his  return  to  the 
East  passed  up  the  Ohio  river,  and  paused  for  a  few  hours 
at  Marietta.  He  was  met  at  the  wharf  by  a  large  number 
of  the  leading  men  in  the  county,  and  conducted  to  the 
Congregational  Church,  which  was  crowded  with  people 
eager  to  see  and  honor  the  patriot,  statesman,  and  sage. 
In  reply  to  an  address  of  welcome  from  Hon.  William 
Rufus  Putnam,  Mr.  Adams  said,  "  That  he  was  a  student 
of  law  with  Judge  Theophilus  Parsons  in  Newbury  port, 
Massachusetts,  fifty -five  years  ago,  when  he  went  to  Ips- 
wich to  visit  his  personal  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  195 

Cutler,  then  just  returned  from  the  great  West,  and  from 
his  lips  he  derived  his  first  knowledge  of  this  region,  and 
the  name  of  Marietta  first  saluted  his  ears.  He  was  ex- 
ceeding!}-interested  in  his  descriptions  of  the  country,  and 
the  account  he  gave  of  its  early  prospects,  anticipations  of 
wonderful  progress  in  western  emigration  and  improve- 
ment, which  have  since  been  realized,  and  more  than  real- 
ized. He  had  never  expected  the  happiness  of  seeing  with 
his  own  eyes  this  land,  this  spot  where  he  now  was,  which 
was  associated  with  his  early  recollections,  and  on  which 
his  imagination  had  dwelt  with  so  much  pleasure." 

Mr.  Adams  paid  a  noble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the 
early  settlers  of  the  place,  and  surprised  every  one  by  the 
intimate  and  accurate  knowledo-e  he  manifested  of  their 
character  and  distinguished  services. 

After  the  reception  at  the  church,  Mr.  Adams  was 
taken  to  the  great  mound  in  the  cemetery,  to  the  elevated 
squares  and  sacra  via,  of  which  he  had  heard  from  Dr. 
Cutler,  and  desired  to  see.  He  then  returned  to  the 
steamboat. 

A  committee  of  three  had  been  selected  to  accompany 
him  to  Pittsburg.  These  were  Ephraim  Cutler,  son  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler;  Caleb  Emerson,  a* man  of  rare 
intelligence,  and  Joseph  Barker,  the  oldest  native  citizen 
of  Ohio  then  living.  They  were  all  men  of  information 
and  ability,  and  the  conversation  on  the  boat,  between  Mr. 
Adams  and  the  committee,  was  of  the  most  interesting 
character,  and  commanded  the  attention  of  all  who  were 
so  fortunate  as  to  be  present.  He  conversed  with  great 
ease  and  freedom  on  the  many  topics  introduced,  "  open- 
ing tlie  rich  store-house  of  his  mind,  and  pouring  forth  its 
well  assorted  treasures."  During  this  pleasant  intercourse 
an  incident  occurred  which  was  noted  by  others,  and  is 
thus  given  in  a  letter  written  by  Judge  Cutler  at  the 
time : 

"  In  conversation  with  Mr.  Adams,  I  observed  to  him 
that  we  remembered  that  under  Providence  we,  as  a  peo- 
ple, were  indebted  to  the  wisdom  and  firmness  of  his  most 
excellent  father  and  John  Jay  for  the  soil  we  possessed, 


196  Life  of  E-phraim  Cutle7\ 

and  that  we  understood  tlie  policy  pursued  by  France  at 
the  treaty  of  Paris  in  1782,  and  the  conduct  of  Dr.  Frank- 
lin was  all  exerted  to  prevent  the  North-west  Territory 
beins:  included  within  our  boundaries.  I  saw  the  tears 
gather  in  his  eyes,  and  his  voice  faltered  as  he  answered, 
that  '  he  rejoiced  to  lind  that  there  were  some  who  still 
remembered  the  services  of  his  beloved  father.'  I  also 
gave  Mr.  Adams  a  concise  history  of  the  convention  which 
formed  our  state  constitution,  the  revolution  that  took 
place  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  members,  and  the  con- 
sequent exclusion  of  slavery.  He  said  with  emphasis, 
'  Slavery  must  and  will  soon  have  an  end.'"  A  predic- 
tion, although  since  fulfilled,  "  the  great  defender  of  the 
rights  of  man  "  did  not  live  to  see  accomplished. 

Agricultural  Society. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Indian  war  in  1795,  when  the 
settlers  were  permitted  to  attend  to  the  cultivation  of 
their  lands,  an  Agricultural  Society  was  formed,  and  such 
men  as  Judge  Fearing,  the  Gilmans,  the  Putnams,  and 
other  distinguished  citizens  attempted  to  aid  the  commu- 
nity with  their  knowledge  and  experience.  As  years 
passed,  however,  this  society  became  inoperative. 

Then  many  of  the  principal  citizens  of  Washington 
county,  Ohio,  with  those  of  Wood  county,  Virginia,  who 
were  interested  in  promoting  the  object,  met  in  Marietta, 
February  22,  1819,  and  organized  by  appointing  Captain 
Jonathan  Devol  chairman,  and  A.  T.  Nye  clerk.  At  this 
meeting  Ephraim  Cutler,  Joseph  Barker,  and  Alexander 
Henderson  were  chosen  to  draw  up  a  constitution  and 
rules  for  an  agricultural  society.  The  committee  per- 
formed the  service  required,  and  reported  to  an  adjourned 
meeting  on  the  28th  of  the  next  April.  This  constitution 
was  adopted  by  the  society,  who  directed  that  it  should  be 
published  in  the  American  Friend,  together  with  an  ad- 
dress, inviting  the  co-operation  of  the  public  in  the  objects 
of  the  society.     The  latter  was  as  follows  : 


Life  of  Sphraim   Cutler.  197 

Address.     To  the  Citizens  of  Washington  and  Wood 
Counties  : 

'■'■Fellow  Citizens — In  a  country  like  ours,  extremely  fa- 
vorable to  the  production  of  all  the  necessaries  and  some 
of  the  luxuries  of  life,  agriculture  is,  and  must  be,  the 
grand  source  of  public  and  individual  prosperity.  Its  in- 
terests are  inseparably  interwoven  with  those  of  commerce 
and  manufactures.  To  promote  these  interests,  in  the 
improvement  of  our  agricultural  products  and  domestic 
fabrics,  is  the  object  of  this  society. 

"  That  the  most  happy  and  beneficial  effects  have  re- 
sulted in  all  countries  from  the  establishment  of  such 
societies  is  beyond  question.  In  our  own,  particularly, 
they  have  been  eminently  useful  in  correcting  erroneous 
habits  of  culture,  and  giving  stimulus  and  facility  to  in- 
dustry by  granting  premiums  to  those  who  have  excelled 
in  practical  husbandry,  in  domestic  manufactures,  in  im- 
proving the  different  breeds  of  domestic  animals  and  the 
various  implements  of  husbandry. 

"  To  effect  these  desirable  objects  requires  the  exertions 
of  experience  and  associated  effort.  Man  is  the  child  of 
habit.  He  is  cold  to  precept,  and  falters  at  experiment, 
but  add  the  force  of  example,  and  you  call  into  action  the 
energies  of  body  and  mind  to  the  accomplishment  of  every 
object  within  the  reach  of  perseverance  and  industry. 
Among  the  first  objects  contemplated  by  the  society  for 
the  improvement  of  our  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
interests  are  the  collection  of  such  interesting  facts  as  are 
the  result  of  practical  knowledge,  and  the  encouragement 
and  reward  of  .experiments  and  improvements  requiring 
time,  care,  situation,  and  expense  not  within  the  reach  of 
every  individual,  and  thus  promote  the  interests  of  all  by 
the  encouragement  of  industry  and  enterprise,  and  the 
improvement  of  productive  labor.  For  the  attainment  of 
these  objects  we  solicit  the  patronage  of  a  liberal  and  en- 
lightened public. 

"Ephraim  Cutler, 

"Joseph  Barker, 

"Alexander  Henderson,  Committee" 


198  Life  of  Ephraim,  Cutler. 

On  Tuesday,  October  20,  1829,  ten  years  later,  the  Agri- 
cultural Society  held  its  annual  show  and  fair  at  Marietta, 
under  the  direction  of  Douij^las  Putnam  and  Henry  Fear- 
ing,  committee  of  arrangements.  This  year,  with  other 
matters  of  interest,  a  plowing  match  came  off  in  the 
morning;  then  a  procession  was  formed  at  the  court-house 
by  the  marshal,  Francis  Devol,  and  moved  to  the  Congre- 
gational meeting-house,  where  Ephraim  Cutler  delivered 
an  address,  after  which  the  society  partook  of  a  public 
dinner.  The  fact  that  then  no  history  of  our  early  settle- 
ment or  civil  organization  had  ever  been  published,  and 
most  of  the  actors  in  those  interesting  scenes  had  passed 
away,  led  him  to  review  and  dwell  at  considerable  length 
upon  those  early  times,  giving  less  attention  to  topics  usu- 
ally discussed  on  such  occasions.  Among  other  things, 
he  said : 

"  There  are  some  still  living  who  came  to  this  place  at  a 
time  when  savage  beasts  and  savage  men  prowled  uncon- 
trolled through  every  portion  of  these  widely  extended 
regions,  which  now  compose  states,  containing  nearly  two 
millions  of  people.  It  may  not  be  improper  to  spend  a 
few  minutes  in  relating  some  reminiscences  of  facts  and 
circumstances  which  led  the  way,  and  attended  the  prog- 
gress  of  settling  Marietta,  the  first  place  where  law  and 
order  were  proclaimed  north-west  of  the  Ohio. 

"  The  character  ought  to  be  known  of  these  bold  pio- 
neers who,  at  the  risk  not  only  of  their  own  lives,  but 
that  of  wives,  children,  and  friends,  placed  theiiiselves 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  in  advance  of  all  others,  sustain- 
ing their  position  through  a  bloody  and  disastrous  Indian 
war,  in  which  two  gallant  armies  were  defeated  and  nearly 
destroyed. 

"It  is  said  that  certain  epochs  in  the  history  of  nations 
will  always  attract  to  themselves  a  lasting  interest. 
Amono;  other  thino-s,  their  orie-in  awakens  a  livelv  curi- 
osity.  From  whence  did  they  spring?  At  what  period 
was  their  country  settled?  For  what  causes,  under  what 
circumstaiices,  and  for  what  objects  were  difficulties  met 
and  overcome  ?     These  are  questions  so  natural  that  they 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  199 

rise  almost  spontaneously  in  every  mind,  and  are  inti- 
mately  connected  with  our  pride,  our  character,  our  hopes, 
and  our  destin_y.  He  who  looks  back  upon  a  long  line  of 
illustrious  ancestors  can  not  forget  that  the  blood  stirring 
in  his  own  veins  is  drawn  from  tlie  same  source,  and  the 
light  reflected  b}'  their  virtues  casts  upon  his  path  a  cheer- 
ins:  radiance.  And  lie,  who  mav  not  claim  kindred  with 
the  mighty  dead,  feels  that  they  are  the  common  inherit- 
ance of  his  country,  and  that  he  has  a  right  to  share  in 
their  fame,  and  triumph  in  their  achievements.  Is^or  let 
it  be  supposed  that  this  strong  propensity  of  our  nature 
to  honor  heroic  worth  is  attributal)lc  to  the  indul2:ence  of 
mere  personal  or  national  vanity.  It  has  a  higher  and 
better  origin.  It  is  closely  connected  with  that  reverence 
and  afl^ection  with  which  we  regard  our  parents ;  with  that 
gratitude  we  accord  to  the  benefactors  of  our  race ;  with 
that  piety  which  reads  in  the  progress  of  events  the  pecu- 
liar superintendence  of  an  all  wise  and  benevolent  Provi- 
dence ;  with  that  charity  which  binds  up  our  interests  in 
those  of  mankind,  and  Avith  that  sympathy  which  links 
our  fate  with  all  past  and  future  generations. 

"  The  toils  and  misfortunes  incident  to  neAv  settlements ; 
the  slow  progress  of  even  successful  etFort ;  the  patience, 
fortitude,  and  sagacity  by  Avhich  evils  are  overcome  or 
diminished ;  the  causes  which  quicken  or  retard  their 
growth,  all  furnish  lessons  which  improve  the  wise,  cor- 
rect the  rash,  and  alarm  the  improvident. 

"In  searching  for  the  causes  which  prol)ably  gave  the 
first  impulse  and  direction  to  the  minds  of  the  first  settlers 
to  the  Ohio,  we  are  led  back  to  that  period  when  America 
was  struggling  with  proud  and  powerful  Britain  for  inde- 
pendence. Their  fathers  had  been  forced  to  leave  their 
native  land,  kindred,  and  friends,  and  settle  on  the  then 
wild  and  inhospitable  Atlantic  shores.  There  they  ex- 
pected, peaceably,  to  enjoy  civil  and  religious  freedom  ; 
but  as  they  grew  and  prospered,  that  hauglity  and  oppres- 
sive nation  sought  to  deprive  them  of  rights  they  held 
most  dear.  Aroused  at  length,  they  declared  to  the  world 
that  they  '  of  right  were  (and  with  the  blessing  of  God), 


200  Life  of  Ephraini  Cutler. 

would  ever  remain  free  and  independent  states.'  A  large 
portion  of  those  who  composed  the  Ohio  Company  were 
men  who  stood  forth  in  that  war  the  champions  of  their 
country's  cause,  and  they,  or  their  sons,  formed  the  vet- 
eran hand  who  commenced  the  work  of  improvement  and 
order  in  these  vast  regions. 

"During  the  progress  of  the  eventful  struggle  with 
Great  Britain,  America  was  sometimes  reduced  to  seasons 
of  great  distress.  In  one  of  these  gloomy  periods  the 
question  was  solemnly  discussed  at  the  tahle  of  the  illus- 
trious commander-in-chief.  What  shall  we  do  if  our 
enemy  succeeds  in  her  designs  ?  Suhmit  we  will  not,  and 
whither  shall  we  fly?  'Behind  yonder  mountains,'  re- 
plied that  great  man  ;  '  there  we  can  he  free.  The  valley 
of  Ohio,  fertile  as  ancient  Egypt,  will  afford  us  all  we  de- 
sire;  the  mountains  will  he  a  barrier;  we  can  defend  our- 
selves there,  and  can  he  happy.'  This  was  told  by  officers 
to  their  men,  by  all  to  wife,  brother,  and  friend,  and  thus 
became  diffused  far  and  wide.  Soon  after,  by  the  guiding 
influence  of  the  Ruler  of  men,  peace  and  independence 
blessed  our  happy  country. 

"  But  the  most  of  these  men,  whose  breasts  had  been 
their  country's  chief  bulwark  in  those  trying  times,  and 
man}^  of  whom  had  spent  the  prime  and  vigor  of  man- 
hood in  that  eight  years'  war,  were  left  without  a  home, 
and  with  very  little  to  procure  one;  there  were  others 
who,  in  their  zeal  to  support  the  cause,  had  sold  their 
property,  and  by  either  lending  the  avails  to  their  coun- 
try, or  trusting  to  its  plighted  faith,  found  all  was  sunk  in 
the  depreciation  of  its  currency.  At  this  period  the  gov- 
ernment was  entirely  unable  to  reward  meritorious  ser- 
vices, or  to  fulflll  its  promises  to  the  one  or  the  other. 
They  were  thus  corai)elled  to  look  for  a  new  country  to 
form  their  future  habitations.  The  recollection  of  Ohio 
came  fresh  to  their  memories;  the  embryo,  the  germ 
formed  as  before  related,  took  life  and  growth.  A  num- 
ber of  these  men,  mostly  distinguished  officers  of  the 
Revolution,  assembled  at  Boston,  and  agreed  to  form  the 
'Ohio  Company.'     A  purchase  for  the  company  was  made 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  201 

from  Congress,  of  lands  their  valor  won  ;  and  on  the  7th 
of  April,  1788,  Gen.  Putnam,  Col.  Sproat,  Major  Ilaffield 
White,  Cai)t.  Jonathan  Devol,  and  forty-three  others 
landed  and  took  possession  of  this  place.  On  the  9th  of 
the  following  July,  his  Excellency,  Gov.  Arthur  St.  Clair, 
arrived  ;  and  soon  after — attended  by  Gen.  Parsons  and 
Gen.  Varnum,  supreme  judges;  Col.  W.  Sargent,  the  sec- 
retary or  deputy  governor;  Gen.  Putnam  and  the  citizens 
resident  in  the  country — proclaimed  civil  government  for 
the  first  time  in  the  North-west.  On  this  interesting  oc- 
casion Gov.  St.  Ckiir  made  a  pertinent  address,  in  which 
he  says  :  '  The  executive  part  of  the  administration  of 
this  government  has  been  intrusted  to  me,  and  I  am  truly 
sensible  of  the  importance  of  the  trust,  and  how  much 
depends  upon  the  due  execution  of  it  to  you,  gentlemen,, 
over  whom  it  is  to  be  immediately  exercised,  to  your  pos- 
terity, and  perhaps  to  the  whole  community  of  America. 

" '  When  I  reflect  upon  the  character  of  the  men  under 
whose  immediate  influence  and  example  this  particular 
settlement,  which  will  probably  give  a  tone  to  all  that 
may  succeed  it,  will  be  formed,  I  have  no  reason  to  fear 
the  result.  From  men  who  duly  weigh  the  importance  to 
society  of  a  strict  attention  to  the  duties  of  religion  and 
morality,  in  whose  bosoms  the  love  of  liberty  and  of  order 
is  a  master  })assion  ;  who  respect  the  rights  of  mankind, 
and  have  sacriflced  much  to  support  them ;  and  who  are 
no  strangers  to  the  decencies  and  to  the  elegancies  of  pol- 
ished life,  there  is  nothing  to  fear.'  He  also  expressed  the 
wish  that  the  example  they  should  give  to  the  natives 
might  'be  the  happy  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Provi- 
dence of  bringing  forward  that  time  which  will  surely 
arrive,  when  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  become  the 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.' 

"During  the  first  ten  years  the  progress  of  the  settle- 
ments was  slow.  An  Indian  war  broke  forth,  with  all  its 
horrors.  An  important  settlement  at  Big  Bottom  was 
taken  by  surprise,  and  the  most  of  its  inhabitants  de- 
stroyed. That  excellent  partisan  oflicer,  Major  Goodale, 
the  brave  Captain  King,  the  gallant  Captain  Rogers,  and 


■202  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

several  others  fell  victims  to  savage  ferocity,  or  went  into 
captivity  never  to  retnrn. 

"The  situation  of  these  settlements  was  distressing. 
The  enemy,  in  full  possession  of  all  the  headwaters  of 
Muskingum  and  Hockhocking,  could  convey  themselves 
on  those  streams,  with  all  security,  to,  or  near  these  ex- 
posed garrisons.  They  could  possess  themselves  of  all  the 
hills  that  overlooked  the  stockaded  forts,  and  if  a  man 
ventured  forth  it  was  at  the  utmost  hazard.  Many  were 
the  hairbreadth  escapes,  many  the  bold  and  daring  deeds, 
and  much  the  cautious  wisdom  which  will  ever  distinguish 
the  fireside  stories  of  those  perilous  times. 

"  The  warning  sound  of  the  faithful  watch-dog  has  often 
caused  the  tender  mothers  of  some  of  you,  my  hearers,  to 
press  you  more  closely  to  their  bosoms,  fearing  that  in  a 
few  moments  you  would  be  snatched  from  their  arms,  and 
that  they  and  those  they  held  dearer  than  life  would  be 
dispatched  to  the  world  of  spirits  by  the  tomahawks  ot 
the  inhuman  savages. 

"Two  armies,  under  brave  and  experienced  command- 
ers, and  composed  of  officers  and  men  equal  to  any  that 
«ver  trod  the  tented  field,  were  defeated  and  nearly  anni- 
hilated by  our  savage  foes ;  but  that  God  who  gives 
strength  to  the  weak,  enabled  the  handful  of  men  at  this 
point  to  maintain  their  posts.  They  possessed  no  com- 
mon character.  Born  in  a  land  of  liberty,  they  knew  the 
boundaries  between  good  order  and  licentiousness.  They 
stood  forth  the  strong,  efficient  defenders  of  their  country, 
in  the  days  of  danger.  When  Washington  reported  that 
nearly  four  thousand  of  his  men  were  unfit  for  duty  from 
the  want  of  shoes  and  clothing,  thev  were  there.  When 
the  snowy,  frozen  ground  in  Pennsylvania,  IsTew  Jersey, 
and  other  parts  of  the  United  States  was  marked  by  our 
soldiers  with  footsteps  filled  with  blood,  they  were  there. 
When  as  proud  banners  as  ever  waved  in  Europe  were 
-surrendered  by  Burgoyne  and  Cornwallis,  they  were  there. 
They  were  there  to  the  end. 

"The  good  La  Fayette,  when  he  visited  Marietta,  in- 
•quired  with  intense  interest,  '  Who  were  the  first  adven- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  203 

turers  to  settle  Ohio?'  On  hearing  their  names:  'Ah!' 
said  he,  '  I  knew  them  well.  I  saw  them  fighting  the  bat- 
tles of  their  country  at  Brandywine,  Rhode  Island,  James- 
town, and  Yorktown.  They  were  the  bravest  of  the  brave. 
Better  men  never  lived.'  * 

"  The  pioneers  of  the  jf^)rest  have  not  all  passed  away,  f 
seven  still  live  of  those  who  first  landed  here  with  Gen- 
eral Putnam.  A  number  of  others  who  came  shortly 
after,  and  witnessed  the  most  of  what  I  have  attempted  to 
relate,  still  survive  ;  and  we  rejoice  to  find  some,  whose 
heads  are  wdiitened  with  nearly  four  score  years,  remain 
to  behold  the  wonders  of  this  wonderful  age." 

To  the  address  from  which  the  foregoing  extracts  have 
been  made  was  appended  the  following : 

"  Schedule  containing  the  names  of  the  principal  civil 
officers  of  the  government  of  the  territory  north-west  of 
the  river  Ohio. 

'■'- Governor — Arthur  St.  Clair. 

'•'•  Secretaries  (with  power  to  act,  as  deputy,  in  the  absence 
of  the  governor) — AVinthrop  Sargent,  Charles  Willing 
Byrd. 

*  The  officers  belonging  to  the  line  of  the  Revohjtionury  army  who 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Ohio,  and  here  alludetl  to,  were: 
Major-Generals,  Arthur  St.  Clair.  Samuel  ITolden  Paisons;  Brigadier 
Generals,  Rufus  Putnam,  James  Mitchell  Varnum,  Benjamin  Tupper; 
Colonels,  Ebenezer  Sproat,  Return  Jonathan  Meigs,  Kobeit  Oliver, 
Winthrop  Sargent,  William  Stacy,  Joseph  Tliouipson,  Israel  Putnam, 
Archibald  Crary  ;  Majors,  Nathan  Goodale,  Nathaniel  Cashing,  Haffield 
White,  Asa  (,'oburn,  Ezra  Putnam,  Jonathan  H^art,  Anselm  Tupper, 
Dean  Tyler,  Cogswell  Olney;  Captains,  Zebulon  King,  Jonatlian  Cass, 
Jonathan  Stone,  William  Dana,  Josiah  Munro.  Jonathan  Devol.  Will- 
iam Mills,  Robert  Bradfoid,  Oliver  Rice,  William  K'ogers.  Benjamin 
Brown,  Charles  Knowles,  Jonathan  Haskell,  G»^orge  Ingersol,  Elijah 
Gates,  Peter  Phillips,  William  Breck ;  Lieutenants  -losepii  Lincoln, 
Ebenezer  Frothingham,  Thomas  Stanley,  Neal  McOatfey,  William 
Gray,  Benjamin  Convers. 

f  Peletioh  White  and  Amos  Port*-!',  Esquires;  Messrs.  Phineas 
•Coburn,  Allen  Devol,  and  Benjamin  SHmw,  of  Washington  county, 
Ohio;  Major  Jervis  Cutler,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee ;  Hezekiah  Flint, 
Esquiie,  of  Cincinnati,  are  supposed  to  be  all  who  now  survive  of  the 
forty-seven. 


204  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

^^ Supreme  Judges  —  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  James 
Mitchell  Varnum,  John  Cleves  Symmes,  Rufus  Putnam, 
Joseph  Gilman,  Return  Jonathan  Meigs,  Jr. 

^^Legislative  Council — Abraham  Van  deBurgh,  of  Vin- 
cennes ;  Robert'  Oliver,  of  Washington  county ;  Colonel 
David  Vance,  of  Belmont  coutity ;  Jacob  Burnet  and 
James  Finley,  of  Hamilton  county ;  Solomon  Sibley,  of 
Detroit. 

^'Members  of  Congress  from  the  Territory — Paul  Fearing, 
Gen.  William  H.  Harrison,  William  McMillan. 

'''■Members  of  the  Territorial  Legislature  from  Washington 
County — Col.  Return  J.  Meigs,  Paul  Fearing.  Second — 
Wm.  R.  Putnam,  Ephraim  Cutler. 

'■'■Civil  Officers  of  Washington  County — Judge  of  Court  of 
Probate,  Paul  Fearing. 

'■'■Justices  of  Court  of  Common  Pleas  —  Dudley  Wood- 
bridge,  Isaac  Pierce,  Daniel  Loring,  Griffin  Green,  Pere- 
grine Foster,  Ephraim  Cutler. 

'■'■  Prothonotary  and  Clerk  of  Sessions — Benjamin  Ives  Gil- 
man. 

^^  Sheriff — Ebenezer  Sproat. 

'■'■Coroner — Charles  Green. 

^'Justices  of  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  and  Justices  of  the 
Peace — Isaac  Pierce,  Dudley  Woodbridge,  Thomas  Lord, 
Robert  Oliver,  Griffin  Greene,  Ephraim  Cutler,  Robert 
Safibrd,  Alvin  Bingham,  John  AVilkins,  William  Harper, 
Brewster  Higley,  John  Robinson,  Joseph  Barker,  William 
Burnham,  Joseph  Buell,  William  Rufus  Putnam,  Thomas 

Stanley,  Samuel  Williamson,  William  Whitten, Wing,. 

Samuel  Carhart,  John  Mclntire." 

This  address,  delivered  in  1829,  over  sixty  years  ago,, 
may  be  regarded  as  the  starting  point  of  a  line  of  his- 
torical inquiry  that  has  since  been  followed  up  by  Dr. 
Hildreth  *  and  others.     At  the  time  of  its  delivery  it  was 


*  Dr.  Samuel  Prescott  Hildi-etli  was  born  in  Methueii,  Essex  county, 
Mass.,  September  30,  1783.  He  received  a  diploma  from  the  Medical 
Society  of  Massachusetts  in  1805,  and  came  to  Ohio  in  1806,  settling  at 
Marietta,  where  he  acquired  a  large  and  successful   practice.     Dr.  Hil- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  205 

the  first  public  efibrt  to  preserve  the  memory  of  the  noble 
founders  of  Ohio  from  oblivion,  and  was  received  with 
great  satisfaction  by  the  old  pioneers  who  were  then  liv- 
ing, and  has  stimulated  their  posterity  to  subsequent 
efforts  in  the  same  direction.  It  was  then  regarded  as  'a 
valuable  contribution  to  authentic  history,  and  the  soci- 
ety, before  whom  it  was  delivered,  requested  a  copy 
through  their  secretary.  Dr.  S.  P.  Hildreth,  for  publica- 
tion. It  came  into  the  hands  of  Hon.  S.  F.  Yinton,  who 
wrote  to  Judge  Cutler,  December  21,  1829 : 

"  I  received  by  this  day's  mail  your  address  to  the  Wash- 
ington County  Agricultural  Society,  which  I  have  perused 
with  great  pleasure,  and,  as  one  of  the  individuals  com- 
posing the  great  and  growing  western  family,  I  can  say 
with  much  sincerity  that  I  feel  under  great  obligations  to 
you  for  the  valuable  historical  information  it  contains. 
The  history  of  the  early  settlement  of  Ohio,  and  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  early  settlers,  are  but  imperfectly  known 
even  in  our  own  district  of  country.  Your  address  will 
have  a  wide  circulation,  and  dispel  the  darkness  that  has 
heretofore  enveloped  that  portion  of  our  history." 


dreth  is  belter  known,  however,  by  liis  literary  productions,  the  prin- 
cipal of  which  are  "Pioneer  History,"  published  in  1848,  and  "The 
Lives  of  the  Early  Settlers  of  Ohio,"  published  in  1852,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Ohio  Historical  i^ociety,  of  Cincinnati.  Besides  these, 
he  made  many  valuable  contributions  to  various  medical,  historical, 
and  scientific  journals.     He  died  July  24,  1863. 


206  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EoADS — Marietta  and  Chillicothe  Turnpike — Baltimore 
AND  Ohio  Railroad — 1837-39. 

From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  the  Territory  North-west 
of  the  Ohio,  in  1795,  Ephraim  Cutler  was  active  in  open- 
ing roadways  through  the  wilderness.  The  settlements- 
on  the  Ohio  Company's  Purchase,  begun  in  1788,  had  been 
located  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and  Muskingum  rivers, 
and  the  usual  mode  of  communication  between  them  was 
by  small  boats  on  those  streams.  The  Indian  war  pre- 
vented the  making  of  roads,  but,  on  the  return  of  peace, 
when  the  people  left  the  garrisons  to  occupy  their  lands 
and  form  new  settlements  remote  from  the  rivers,  these 
became  a  positive  necessity.  Being  a  practical  surveyor, 
he  was  able  to  aid  in  the  development  of  the  country  by 
laying  out  many  short  roads  for  the  convenience  of  the 
settlers.  Besides  these,  he  surveyed  and  cut  out  a  road 
forty  miles  through  the  forest,  from  Waterford  to  the  Salt 
Works  in  Muskingum  county,  in  1796;  and,  as  has  been 
stated,  a  few  years  later,  the  road  from  Federal  Creek  to 
the  Muskingum,  and  was  also  employed  in  locating  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  road  leading  from  Marietta  to  Cin- 
cinnati, in  1801.  Washington  county  includes  a  large  ex- 
tent of  broken,  hilly  country,  traversed  by  numerous 
streams,  presenting  an  unpromising  surface  for  the  con- 
struction of  good  roads — difficulties  which  a  century  of 
occupation  has  not  yet  fully  overcome. 

To  promote  commercial  enterprise,  and  for  the  benefit 
of  travelers,  the  citizens  of  Marietta  and  vicinity  sought 
legislative  action  to  secure  the  construction  of  a  turnpike 
road  from  Marietta  to  Chillicothe. 

January  18,  1830,  the  general  assembly  appointed  "Jas. 


Life  of  JEphraim  Cutler.  207 

T.AVorthington,  of  Ross  county,  Charles  Harper,  of  Athens 
county,  and  Ephraim  Cutler,  of  Washington  county,  com- 
missioners to  view  and  lay  out  a  i-oute  for  a  turnpike  road 
from  Marietta  through  Athens  and  McArthurstown  to 
Chillicothe."'  The  canal  commissioners  were  to  provide  a 
competent  engineer  to  surve}^  the  road  and  make  estimates 
of  the  cost  of  its  construction.  A  year  passed  before  Mr. 
Andrew  Young  was  detailed  for  that  service.  In  January, 
1831,  the  survey  was  commenced  at  a  point  near  Chilli- 
cothe, and  a  careful  and  laborious  examination  was  made 
of  different  routes  to  Athens ;  from  thence  it  was  contin- 
ued down  the  valley  of  the  Hockhocking  sixteen  miles, 
and  thence  across  the  country  to  the  mouth  of  Little 
Hocking,  and  up  the  valle}^  of  the  Ohio  to  Marietta. 
Another  more  northern,  or  hill  route,  was  surveyed  from 
Marietta  to  Athens.  The  enterprise  was  subjected  to 
many  delays.  The  engineer's  report  was  not  ready  before 
January,  1834,  and  then  the  commissioners,  in  their  report 
to  the  legislature,  were  not  united  in  opinion  on  the  route 
from  Marietta  to  Athens.  General  Worthin^ton  and 
Judge  Harper  recommended  the  valley  route,  while  Judge 
Cutler  reported  in  favor  of  the  northern  or  hill  route,  giv- 
ing his  reasons  therefor.  The  final  action  of  the  le<?isla- 
ture  was  taken  five  years  after  the  commissioners  were 
appointed,  and  the  result  was  announced  to  Judge  Cutler 
by  a  note  from  Isaac  Humphreys,  Esq.,  who  then  repre- 
sented Washington  county.     He  writes  : 

"Knowing  the  deep  interest  you  feel  in  being  fully  sus- 
tained in  your  minority  report,  regarding  the  Hocking 
valley  and  the  hill  route  through  Amestown,  Berne,  Wes- 
ley, etc.,  although  much  indisposed,  deem  it  my  duty  to 
inform  you  without  delay,  that  the  northern  or  hill  route 
is  linally  fixed  on  as  the  permanent  route.  We  dare  not, 
previous  to  its  being  established,  ask  for  an  appropriation, 
but  now  we  can  turn  our  attention  to  that  very  desirable 
object.  An  appearance  of  returning  health  induces  me  to 
believe  that  much  attention  can  be  given  to  the  subject." 

Believing  that  the  lack  of  suitable  highways  had  re- 
tarded   the  development  and  hindered  the  prosperity  of 


208  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

that  part  of  the  state  which  the  turnpike  was  expected 
to  benefit,  and  that  a  more  liberal  policy  was  due  from  the 
state  to  this  section,  Judge  Cutler  writes  :  "  Our  citizens 
feel  that  they  have  a  claim  on  the  state,  founded  on  the 
broad  basis  of  justice.  A  short  history  of  our  political 
relations  with  other  portions  of  the  state  will,  we  think, 
illustrate  this  very  clearly.  The  most  of  the  land  through 
which  this  road  has  been  surveyed,  was  among  the  first 
ever  purchased  in  Ohio.  It  has  been  taxed  for  every  pur- 
pose for  which  lands  have  been  taxed  since  the  first 
establishment  of  civil  order  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  and  for 
a  long  time  when  only  a  very  small  portion  of  other  lands 
in  the  state  were  taxed  at  all.  It  is  remembered  by  us 
that  the  convention  which  formed  our  state  government, 
entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  United  States  to  ex- 
empt all  their  lands  from  taxation  for  five  years  after  they 
had  been  sold.  And  we  remember,  also,  that  for  more 
than  twenty-three  years  the  whole  amount  of  revenue  for 
civil  government,  direct  taxes  to  support  the  late  war,  and 
for  pui'poses  of  a  general  nature,  was  raised  from  a  tax  on 
land  alone ;  and  that  this  whole  district  was  oppressively 
taxed  by  the  unequal  operation  of  the  old  system  of  taxa- 
tion. While  the  purchaser  of  United  States'  lands  has 
been  exempted  from  the  payment  of  not  more  than  ten 
dollars,  propably,  on  each  160  acres  he  may  have  pur- 
chased, every  foot  of  our  land  was  taxed  until  at  length, 
in  many  instances,  more  money  has  been  paid  in  taxes 
than  the  land  is  now  worth.  We  have  also,  with  cheer- 
fulness, paid  our  proportion  of  the  expense  in  constructing 
the  canals  and  other  improvemen.ts  to  promote  the  pros- 
perity of  other  portions  of  the  state."  Opposition  sprang 
up  from  unexpected  quarters,  and  no  appropriation  was 
made  to  build  the  turnpike. 

The  people  of  Marietta,  wdiile  endeavoring  to  secure 
a  turnpike  road  to  Chillicothe,  were  at  the  same  time 
seeking  to  improve  their  means  of  communication  with 
the  eastern  cities.  The  merchandise  to  supply  this  section 
of  country  was  then  brought  over  the  mountains  in 
wagons  ;   and  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  swine  went  on  foot 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  209 

to  those  distant  markets.  A  o;ood  road  from  the  eastward 
to  the  Ohio  was  much  desired.  Such  a  road  was  in  pro- 
cess of  construction  from  Winchester,  Virginia,  as  early 
as  1831,  and  to  secure  its  direction  toward  Marietta  was 
the  object  of  the  subjoined  correspondence. 

"  To  Ephraim  Cutler,  Esq  : 

'■''Dear  Sir: — Since  our  conversation  with  you  the  other 
day,  on  the  subject  of  Winchester,  Ya.,  road,  as  connected 
with  the  turnpike  from  Marietta  to  Chillicothe,  a  number 
of  the  citizens  of  Marietta  have  been  together  and  con- 
sulted on  the  best  mode  of  conducting  the  subject.  Our 
course  is  to  request  you  to  make  out  a  statement  of  the 
route  surveyed ;  its  advantages  as  connected  with  that 
road,  and  the  communication  with  the  Ohio  canals  by  the 
Muskingum  Valley  ;  and  address  it  to  the  undersigned. 

"  This  will  be  forwarded  to  Mr.  Duncan,  of  Clarksburg, 
Va.,  who  is  now  in  Richmond,  and  will  lay  it  before  the 
governor,  with  whom  the  final  location  rests.  Mr.  Duncan 
has  been  addressed  on  the  subject,  and  is  decidedly  in 
favor  of  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  as  are  also  one 
half  of  the  people  of  Clarksburg.  It  is  desirable  to  have 
your  communication  as  early  as  possible,  that  it  may  be  in 
Richmond  by  the  first  of  July. 

"  We  are,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

S.  P.  HiLDRETH, 

Arius  JSTye, 
a.  v.  d.  joline, 
Augustus  Stone, 
L.  Barber." 
"  Marietta,  Ju7ie  17,  1831. 

To  this  letter  the  following  reply  was  made  : 

"  Warren,  Jwi.e  20th,  1831. 
"  Gentlem.en :  I  have  your  note  before  me,  and  in  comply- 
ing with  your  request,  will  endeavor  to  give  a  brief  state- 
ment of  the  subject. 

"  The  survey  of  the  route  for  the  turnpike  from  Marietta 
14 


210  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

by  Athens,  to  Chillicothe,  was  made  in  January  and 
February  last,  some  part  of  which  is  under  consideration 
of  the  commissioners  and  will  not  be  determined  until 
further  examination  is  made.  It  will  probably  intersect 
the  Hockhocking  Valley  about  two  miles  above  Athens, 
and  thirty-nine  from  Marietta,  and  about  forty  miles  below 
Lancaster,  By  laying  a  line  on  one  of  our  most  correct 
maps,  with  one  end  at  Washington  city,  and  the  other  at 
Chillicothe,  it  is  found  to  very  nearly  intersect  Winchester, 
Romney,  Clarksburg,  and  Athens.  The  commissioners, 
in  fixing  the  location  of  the  Marietta  and  Chillicothe  turn- 
pike have  aimed  to  keep  as  near  this  line  as  the  nature 
of  the  country  will  admit.  They  anticipated  that  Virginia 
would  authorize  the  establishing  of  the  Winchester  road, 
and  it  is  obvious,  that  by  connecting  these  roads  at  the 
Ohio  River,  a  valuable  national  purpose  will  be  attained. 
An  avenue,  the  most  direct,  from  the  seat  of  the  Xational 
Government  to  the  heart  of  Ohio,  and  also  to  the  Ohio 
canal  by  the  valley  of  the  Muskingum,  are  benefits  that 
must  result  therefrom. 

"By  the  late  census,  the  counties  of  Washington,  Meigs, 
Athens,  Hocking,  Jackson  and  Ross  have  attained  to  a 
population  of  61,677.  A  district  of  country,  composed  of 
the  county  of  Morgan,  the  northern  part  of  AYashington 
and  Athens,  and  the  southern  part  of  Perry  and  Hocking 
counties,  is  at  this  time,  very  rapidly  filling  up  with 
emigrants  from  various  parts,  a  large  portion  of  whom 
were  originally  from  Virginia.  The  attention  of  the  en- 
terprising and  industrious  has  lately  been  attracted  to  this 
region  by  the  facility  with  which  salt  water  is  procured 
in  the  valleys  of  Muskingum  and  Hockhocking;  and 
also  by  the  success  which  has  attended  the  raising  of 
sheep,  which  is  becoming  an  object  with  farmers  through- 
out this  section.  There  is  little  doubt  that  this  district 
will  continue  to  increase  in  population  and  wealth  as  fast 
as  any  portion  of  the  state.  Few  counties  in  Ohio  have 
increased  in  a  greater  ratio  than  Morgan  county  during 
the  last  decade.  The  number  of  inhabitants  ten  years  ago 
was  about  5,000,  at  the  late  census  it  was  11,800. 


Life  of  Ephraim-  Cutler.  211 

"All  the  counties  which  I  have  named  are  interested  in 
these  improvements.  The  nearest  point  on  the  navigahle 
waters  that  flow  into  the  Atlantic  is  Alexandria  or  Wash- 
ington City.  Some  portions  of  these  counties  are  peopled 
almost  exclusively  from  Virginia.  They,  naturally,  would 
renew  their  trade  and  intercourse  with  their  native 
country. 

"  The  roads  that  already  lead  into  Marietta,  as  to  a  focus, 
are  from  Clarksburg,  Wheeling,  Woodsfield,  Barnsville, 
Cambridge,  Zanesville,  Lancaster,  Chillicothe,  Gallipolis, 
Charleston,  Va.,  etc.  The  most  of  these  are  post  roads, 
and  stages  will  soon  he  established  on  the  greater  part  of 
them.  There  is  no  other  point  on  the  Ohio  where  such  a 
road  could  intersect  it,  which  has  equal  advantages. 

"  The  navigation  of  the  Muskingum,  and  a  connection  by 
it  with  the  Ohio  canal,  is  a  matter  of  consequence  para- 
mount to  all  others.  The  natural  course  of  trade  seems  to 
he  that  business  begets  business.  The  salt  manufactories 
on  the  Muskingum  and  Hockhocking  bid  fair  to  compete 
with  the  Kew  York  and  Kanawah  salines,  and  must 
greatly  increase  business  and  wealth. 

"  The  improvement  in  the  farming  interests,  in  the 
raising  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs,  is  evident ;  and 
much  of  the  increase  will  seek  a  market  in  Virginia  and 
Maryland  through  this  channel.  The  commercial  inter- 
course which  must  ensue  between  Alexandria,  Winchester, 
etc.,  and  this  section  ot  country,  will  be  considerable. 
These  facts,  taken  together,  are  sufficient  to  awaken  the 
attention  of  every  lover  of  his  country  to  these  improve- 
ments, and  to  the  importance  of  having  them  properly 
located. 

"  You  are  at  liberty  to  make  what  use  you  please  of  these 
suggestions,  which  I  have  very  hastily  and  crudely  thrown 
together. 

"  With  great  respect,  I  am  yours, 

Ephraim  Cutler." 
"  Dr.  S.  P.  Hildreth,  Arius  Nye,  Esq.,  A.  V.  D.  Joline, 
Col.  Augustus  Stone,  Col.  Levi  Barber." 


212  Lije  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

To  return  to  public  improvements  in  Ohio.  While  the 
fate  of  the  Marietta  and  Chillicothe  turnpike  was  still  un- 
decided, the  improvement  of  the  Muskingum  river,  by- 
slack  water  navigation,  began  to  attract  public  attention 
in  Washington  county.  The  general  interest  in  this  sub- 
ject was  fully  shared  by  Judge  Cutler.  The  following 
letter  from  Mr.  Humphreys  to  him  shows  that  this  meas- 
ure met  with  much  less  opposition  than  the  turnpike  en- 
countered. 

Mr.  Humphreys  writes  from  Columbus,  on  the  19th  of 
December,  1835  : 

"  It  is  probable  that  Mr.  Morris  will  not  bring  his  turn- 
pike bill  forward  this  session,  as  he  is  engaged  in  a  plan 
to  render  the  Hockiug  navigable  by  canal  to  Al^hens,  and 
from  thence  to  the  Ohio  by  a  slack-water  navigation.  It 
is  probable  that  during  next  week  a  bill  will  be  presented, 
pursuant  to  notice,  for  improving  the  Muskingum.  .  .  . 
Our  prospects  of  success  are  not  only  favorable,  but  very 
favorable.  Yet  all  depends  on  our  future  relations  with 
France.  If  we  should  be  engaged  in  war,  the  state  will 
not  engage  in  any  further  loans  to  complete  her  grand 
system  of  internal  improvements.  The  entire  representa- 
tion, from  Cleveland  to  Zanesville,  and  thence  to  the  town 
of  Marietta,  of  Meigs,  Athens,  Perry,  and  Richland,  will 
aid  in  supporting  and  voting  for  the  measure,  and  my 
hopes  of  success  are  flattering." 

Happily,  Mr.  Humphreys's  hopes  were  not  disappointed. 
The  bill  passed  the  legislature,  and  an  appropriation  of 
$600,000  was  made  to  begin  the  work,  which  has  proved 
to  be  of  permanent  value. 

With  this  improvement  assured,  the  people  of  Marietta 
and  Washington  county  renewed  their  efforts  to  secure  an 
outlet  toward  the  sea-board,  which  they  hoped  to  obtain 
through  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Eailroad,  now  slowly 
progressing  westward;  and  they  selected  Judge  Cutler  as 
their  agent  in  the  matter,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  follow- 
ing correspondence : 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  213 

"Ephraim  Cutler,  Esq.: 

'■'■Dear  Sir — We  wish  for  some  person  to  go  along  the 
route  from  this  place  to  "Western  Port,  and  on  to  Balti- 
more, in  order  to  arouse  the  people  on  the  line  to  their  in- 
terests, collect  facts,  and  remain  at  Baltimore  as  long  as 
necessary  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  committee. 

"Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  take  this  subject  into 

consideration,  and  let  us  know,  as  soon  as  possible,  if  you 

would  undertake  it  yourself?     We  are  of  opinion  that  you 

are  better  qualified  to  perform  this  duty  than  any  other 

person  near  us,  and  think  it  important  that  we   should 

move  speedily  in  this  matter. 

"  Nahum  Ward, 

"Augustus  Stone, 

"John  Mills, 

"  C.  Emerson, 

"Marietta,  March  13,  1837.  Railroad  Committee" 

The  object  of  the  committee  in  the  proposed  mission  is 
more  fully  stated  in  a  letter  received  two  weeks  later, 
dated  Marietta,  March  27,  1837  : 

"  To  THE  Hon.  Ephraim  Cutler  : 

".S'?r — The  undersigned,  a  committee  appointed  by  the 
citizens  of  the  county  of  Washington  for  the  purpose  of 
laying  before  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  the  important  and  various 
advantages  that  must  result  both  to  the  public  and  said 
company  by  running  said  railroad  from  Winchester,  or 
some  point  from  the  top  of  the  mountains  on  the  route  to 
this  place,  have  appointed  you  as  their  agent,  to  proceed 
from  this  j^lace  by  way  of  Clarksburg,  Romney,  King- 
wood,  and  Winchester,  and  from  thence  to  the  city  of 
Baltimore. 

"You  will  take  notes  as  you  pass  over  the  country,  such 
as  may  be  useful  to  us,  and  interesting  to  the  furtherance 
of  our  object,  to  be  laid  before  the  president  and  directors 
of  said  R.  R.  Co.,  and  especially  to  direct  your  attention 
to  that  part  of  the  route  on  the  waters  of  Savage  river  to 


214  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

AVinchester,  of  "whicli  no  recognizance  was  taken  by  Bar- 
ney and  Trimble.  Tbis  may  be  important  for  you  wben 
you  reacb  Baltimore. 

"You  will  endeavor  to  awaken  tbe  citizens  of  Virarinia 
on  tbe  route  to  call  meetings,  and  bave  corresponding 
committees  appointed  to  solicit  tbe  furtber  examination 
of  tbis  route,  by  tbe  Board  of  Directors  of  said  R.  R. 
Company,  and  set  fortb  in  strong  terms  tbat  unless  tbe 
citizens  on  tbe  route  from  tbis  to  Harper's  Ferry  will  take 
an  active  interest  it  may  fail  altogetber.  It  is  very  natural 
to  suppose  tbat  if  tbe  route  from  Wincbester  to  tbis  place 
is  adopted  by  said  R.  R.  Company,  as  one  track,  tbat  tbe 
State  of  Virginia  will  make  a  very  liberal  subscription  to 
tbe  stock ;  and  you  may  bold  out  to  tbe  president  and  di- 
rectors, on  your  arrival  in  Baltimore,  tbat  tbe  State  of 
Obio  will  stand  ready  to  take  up  tbis  road  from  Mari- 
etta and  extend  it  to  tbe  lake  at  tbe  moutb  of  Black 
River. 

"  We  will  suggest  to  you  tbe  propriety  of  consulting 
some  of  tbe  principal  citizens  of  Baltimore,  wbo  take  an 
interest  in  our  route,  previous  to  your  calling  on  tbe  presi- 
dent and  directors  of  said  company. 

"You  will  endeavor  to  obtain  from  tbe  Board  of  Direc- 
tors some  definite  expression  as  to  tbe  furtber  examina- 
tion of  our  route  by  said  company,  in  order  tbat  we 
may  take  sucb  furtber  steps  as  may,  in  tbat  case,  be  most 
advisable. 

"  Wben  you  bave  accomplisbed  tbe  object  of  tbis  mis- 
sion you  will  return  direct  to  tbis  place,  or  by  tbe  route 
you  go  on,  as  you  may  deem  most  advisable.  If,  as  is  to 
be  boped,  you  make  a  favorable  impression  upon  tbe 
Board,  and  can  obtain  in  writing  from  the  President  a 
favorable  expression  tbat  will,  in  yoiir  opinion,  justify  you 
in  making  report  to  tbe  citizens  on  tbe  line  of  our  route 
verbally,  in  order  to  excite  tbem  to  immediate  action ; 
perbaps  it  will  be  tbe  best  course  to  pursue. 

"  On  your  return  you  will  please  make  known  to  us  tbe 
result  of  your  agency. 


Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler.  215 

"Wishing  you  great  prosperity  and  a  safe  return,  we 
are  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient,  humble  servants, 

JS'ahum  Ward,  Augustus  Stone, 

Caleb  Emerson,         David  Barber, 
John  Mills,  Joseph  Barker, 

Railroad  Committee  for  Washington  County,  Ohio."" 

A  long  journey  on  horseback,  over  roads  far  from  good 
at  any  time,  and  almost  impassable  in  the  spring  season, 
through  storms  and  across  swollen  streams,  where  there 
were  no  bridges  or  ferry-boats,  was  not  a  pleasure  excur- 
sion to  a  man  seventy  years  old,  and  to  one  less  resolute 
and  inured  to  the  saddle,  would  have  been  impossible. 

He  left  Marietta  for  Baltimore,  March  30,  1837.  In 
the  fragmentary  notes  written  during  this  trip  he  says : 
^' In  crossing  the  Monongahela  River,  my  horse  swam 
nearly  the  whole  distance  across,  the  water  coming  almost 
over  his  back.  I  received  no  other  damage,  by  the  good- 
ness of  Providence,  than  having  my  boots  filled  and  my 
clothes  somewhat  wet.  ISTine  miles  of  the  turnpike  to 
Clarksburg  is  finished,  and  the  traveling  on  it  very  bad." 
He  spent  two  days  in  Clarksburg,  where,  he  writes:  "A 
very  respectable  public  meeting  was  held  by  the  citizens 
of  the  town  and  county,  which  I  was  invited  to  address, 
and  give  information  on  the  subject  of  my  mission.  I  was 
listened  to  with  the  most  flattering  attention,  and  they 
passed  resolutions  approving  the  project,  and  appointed  a 
committee  to  memorialize  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  directors." 

The  morning  he  set  out  from  Clarksburg  the  ground 
was  white  with  snow,  and  he  rode  to  Pruntytown  through 
a  very  severe  snow-storm.  The  weather  continued  inclem- 
ent, and  more  or  less  snow  fell  for  several  successive  days. 
He  pursued  his  journey  through  Kingwood,  where  "  they 
have  no  confidence  in  the  railroad,"  forded  several  streams, 
and  ferried  over  Cheat  River  in  another  violent  snow- 
storm. When  he  came  to  the  north  branch  of  the  Poto- 
mac he  writes  :  "  The  branch  can  not  be  rode  with  safety, 
having  risen  by  a  heavy  rain  last  night,  so  as  to  be  dan- 


216  Life  of  Ephraiin  Cutler. 

gerous  passing.  No  bridges  in  this  part  of  Virginia.  I 
am  astonished  at  the  miserable  appearance  of  "VVestern- 
port.  Sargent's  building,  three  stories  high,  designed  for 
a  warehouse  and  store,  erected  more  than  thirty-five  years 
ago,  and  then  left  unfinished  without  windows  or  doors, 
remains  in  much  the  same  condition,  excepting  decay,  and 
so  it  has  been  all  these  years.  As  there  is  no  flatboat  in 
which  I  can  cross  the  branch  with  my  horse,  I  shall  pro- 
ceed to  Black  Oak  Bottom."  At  Cressapstown,  where  he 
spent  the  Sabbath,  the  mountains  were  white  with  snow. 
The  next  day  he  set  out  for  Romney.  "  The  sun  has  once 
more  gladdened  the  face  of  nature.  Since  I  left  home  I 
have  encountered  cold,  stormy,  windy  weather ;  it  has  been 
cloudy  every  day  except  one,  and  snow  or  rain  has  fallen 
some  part  of  each  day.  ...  I  am  surprised  at  the 
appearance  of  the  country  since  I  left  Clarksburg.  I  find 
the  same  log-cabins,  with  few  or  no  additions,  that  were 
here  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago."  Although  he  remarks 
upon  this  lack  of  progress,  he  was  much  impressed  with 
the  great  natural  advantages  of  the  region  through  which 
he  passed,  commenting  on  its  vast  water  power,  valuable 
timber,  and  rich  deposits  of  coal  and  iron.  Fifteen  days 
after  leaving  Marietta  he  arrived  at  Winchester,  where  he 
sold  his  horse  and  •'  went  on  to  Baltimore  by  railroad,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles,  traveling  about  nine  hours." 

April  17, 1837,  he  writes  from  Baltimore  :  "  I  came  here 
on  Friday,  the  14tli,  and  the  next  day  delivered  my  letters 
of  introduction.  One  was  to  Mr.  James  Thompson,  for- 
merly of  Ohio,  a  commission  merchant  with  whom  I  had 
a  slight  acquaintance.  He  at  once,  in  a  very  handsome 
manner,  invited  me  to  take  up  my  quarters  at  his  house. 
Yesterday,  Sabbath,  I  heard  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Duncan  an 
excellent  lecture  on  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans.  I  have 
seldom  heard  a  more  impressive  discourse,  or  one  more 
satisfactory  to  me. 

"  The  terrible  financial  crash,  the  immense  failures  at 
New  Orleans,  amounting  to  many  millions,  and  more  espe- 
cially at  New  York,  where  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  in- 
dividuals have  failed,  as  some  accounts  state,  for  not  less 


Life  of  Ephraim,  Cutler.  217 

than  $90,000,000,  has  alarmed,  convulsed,  and  confounded 
all.  ]N"othing  could  be  more  in  opposition  to  my  hopes  of 
success,  than  this  appalling  state  of  things,  but  I  have  de- 
termined not  to  relax  my  endeavors  to  draw  attention  to  the 
object  of  my  mission  here.  The  proceedings  of  the  rail- 
road meeting,  held  at  Clarksburg  on  my  way  to  this  place,, 
are  being  published  in  all  the  Baltimore  papers." 

On  April  25th,  he  writes :  "  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  Board 
of  Directors  together,  but  have  met  and  conversed  with  a 
number  of  them,  and  have  explained  the  importance  of  a 
re-examination  before  the  route  is  decided  upon.  Some  of 
them  are  very  ignorant  of  Ohio,  and  know  but  little  of  the 
geography  of  the  country  through  which  the  road  is  to 
pass.  One  director  assured  a  friend  of  mine,  that  Marietta 
was  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  farther  than  Wheeling 
from  Baltimore  !  Others,  however,  are  better  informed,, 
and  comprehend  the  propriety  of  moving  in  a  straight, 
direct  line,  in  preference  to  a  curve,  in  order  to  arrive  at  a 
given  point,  and  readily  give  assurance  of  support  to  our 
petition  for  an  examination  and  survey.  The  Board  consists 
of  twenty-four  members,  a  number  of  whom  are  Quakers, 
said  to  be  under  the  control  of  Mr.  Thomas  ;  another  por- 
tion are  merchants  whose  business  and  correspondence 
connect  them  to  a  great  extent  with  Pittsburg  and  Wheel- 
ing. Those  who  thought  at  all  ori  the  matter  supposed  that 
it  was  settled  that  the  road  must  go  to  one  or  both  of  these 
places.  The  subject  has  been  much  discussed  by  all  parties, 
and  I  am  told  that  public  opinion  is  greatly  changed.  In- 
telligent men  here,  after  the  whole  matter  is  explained,  freely 
acknowledge  that  the  route  to  Marietta  ought  to  be  adopted. 

"  The  Board,  as  yet,  has  taken  no  action  farther  than  tO' 
procure  from  Government  a  corps  of  engineers,  who  are 
now  examining  five  ditierent  routes  : 

"  1st.  To  Boonesboro  and  Hagerstown. 

"  2d.  To  Cumberland  and  mouth  of  Savage,  by  Win- 
chester and  Romney. 

"  I  have  had  a  long  and  interesting  conversation  wnth  Mr. 
Knight,  the  head  of  this  party,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  give 
his  opinion  that  this  would  be  the  route  adopted,  with  a 


218  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

lateral  road  from  Romney  to  Cumberland,  and  that  the  main 
stem  would  go  direct  to  Savage,  up  that  stream  and  Crabtree, 
and  cross  the  Back-bone  near  Armstrong's  in  the  Glades. 

"  3d.  A  party  are  examining  from  Back-bone  to  Wheel- 
ing. 

"4th.  One  from  Cumberland,  up  Wills  creek,  by  Castle- 
main  river,  to  Pittsburg. 

"  5th.  Another  party  from  Cheat  river  to  Pittsburg. 

"  It  appeared  to  me  that  now  was  the  time,  if  ever,  to 

secure  an  examination  towards  the  Muskingum.     I  have 

accordingly  prepared  a  statement  or  memorial  to  present 

to  the  Board  of  Directors,  explaining  the  situation  of  our 

section  of  country,  with  the  prospect  of  future  useful  and 

extended  improvements  from  Marietta  and  points  on  the 

Muskingum." 

"  Memorial  : 

"  To  the  President  and  Directors  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Bailroad  Company  : 

"  The  undersigned,  appointed  by  the  citizens  of  Marietta 
and  Washington  County,  Ohio,  to  lay  before  your  honor- 
able body  the  important  and  various  advantages  that  must 
result  to  the  public  generally,  and  particularly  to  the  City 
of  Baltimore,  and  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company,  by  running  said  road  from  Harper's  Ferry  in  a 
direction  for,  and  iinally  to  reach  the  Ohio  at  or  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Muskingum  river,  would  most  respectfully 
represent : 

"That  the  people  of  the  valley  of  the  Muskingum  have 
understood  by  the  memoirs  and  reports  of  the  corps  of 
-engineers,  made  April,  1828,  that  it  was  assumed  as  prac- 
ticable to  construct  a  railroad  by  way  of  Savage  river, 
through  Preston,  Harrison,  and  Wood  counties,  Va.,  to 
reach  the  Ohio,  at,  or  nearly  opposite,  the  mouth  of  Mus- 
kingnrn  river. 

"  With  a  view  of  presenting  to  the  notice  of  your  hon- 
orable body  the  great  importance  to  the  city  of  Baltimore 
and  the  Railroad  Company,  with  the  benefits  which  must 
ensue  by  adopting  this  route,  the  undersigned  will  confine 
himself,  principally,  to  the  facts  and  prospects  which  may 


Life  of  Ephraim.  Cutler.  219 

reasonably  be  expected  to  attend  the  extending  this  great 
national  improvement  to  this  point ;  and  notice,  also,  some 
works  of  corresponding  utility  now  being  constructed,  or 
which  are  confidently  anticipated  from  the  enterprising 
energy  of  the  western  people,  which  must  increase,  event- 
ually, the  commerce  of  Baltimore  and  the  revenue  of  the 
railroad  to  an  amount  which  can  not  fail  to  realize  the 
most  sanguine  expectations  of  their  friends. 

"  1st.  Your  attention  is  solicited  to  the  importance  of 
connecting  this  conveyance  of  goods  and  passengers  with 
the  steamboat  navigation  on  the  Muskingum,  which  must  be 
completed  to  the  Ohio  canal  within  three  years,  as  all  the 
locks  and  dams  are  under  contract,  and  are  now  progress- 
ing with  energy  to   consummate   this  object.     There    is 
little  room   to   doubt  that  the  favorable   opinion  of  the 
Board  of  Public  Works  will  induce  the  legislature  of  Ohio 
to  construct  (on  account  of  the  state,  or  by  authorizing  a 
company)  a  continued  steamboat  communication,  by  the 
way  of  the  Walhonding,  Kilbuck,  and   Black   rivers   to 
Lake  Erie.     This  measure,  when  accomplished,  will  pro- 
vide, for  this  cheap  and  speedy  mode  of  communication, 
in  a  distance  of  200  miles,  a  connection  of  the  great  north- 
ern with  the  southern  waters.      There  is  mucli  reason  to 
expect  that  at  no  distant  period  a  railroad  will  be  made 
from  Marietta  up  this  valley  to  the  mouth  of  Black  river, 
as  this  can  be  effected  at  a  comparatively  small  expense, 
there  being  no  elevation  to  excavate  or  high  summit  to 
pass  over.     It  would  also  unite  the  interests  of  a  region 
•destined  to  be  as  important  as  any  of  equal  extent  in  this 
or  any  other  country,  already  abounding  with  an  immense 
amount  of  surplus  produce,  and  tobacco,  also  salt,  coal, 
and    iron    in    inexhaustible    abundance.      The    hydraulic 
power  which  must  soon  be  ready  for  application,  of  which 
it  is  declared  by  the  Board  of  Public  Works,  that  '  the 
Muskingum  will  yield  an  amount  that  has  no  parallel  in 
the  United  States,'  and  much  of  which,  between  Marietta 
and  Zanesville,  will  soon  be  employed  in  great  manufjic- 
turing  establishments.     All  these  combined  can  not  fail  to 
produce  a  most  favorable  etiect  on  your  ffreat  interest. 


220  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

"  2d.  Tlie  importance  of  a  continued  western  route  from 
Marietta  to  Athens  and  Chillicothe  is  also  submitted  to 
your  consideration.  A  route  for  a  turnpike  road  has  been 
examined,  between  these  points,  by  commissioners,  assisted 
by  a  skillful  engineer  appointed  by  the  state ;  the  route 
has  been  established  by  the  legislature  of  the  state,  and  a 
company  incorporated  to  effect  the  accomplishment  of  this 
object.  To  Athens,  there  is  a  canal  in  construction  from 
Lancaster;  thus  a  communication  will  be  opened  with  that 
valley,  which  also  abounds  with  mineral  riches,  such  as 
iron,  salt,  coal,  and  probably  others  of  commercial  im- 
portance. But  by  the  survey  of  this  road,  another  im- 
portant fact  is  brought  to  view,  in  determining  that  a  rail- 
road may  easily  be  constructed  from  Marietta  to  Chili- 
cothe,  a  distance  of  100  miles,  and  thence  to  Cincinnati  in 
nearly  the  same  direction  100  miles  further,  which  would 
connect  the  interests  of  the  emporium  of  trade  in  the 
west  with  Baltimore,  by  a  distance  which  will  not  much 
exceed  500  miles,  which  is  most  certainly  far  the  shortest 
route  that  can  ever  be  contemplated,  it  being  a  geograph- 
ical fact  that  a  straig-ht  line  drawn  from  Baltimore  to  Chili- 
cothe  will  intersect  Clarksburg,  Marietta,  and  Athens,  a 
very  small  deviation  to  the  left  will  reach  Cincinnati,  and 
to  the  right,  Dayton  or  Indianapolis. 

"  3d.  The  importance  of  this  route  is  increased  by  pass- 
ing directly  through  the  rich  mining  regions  in  Preston, 
Harrison,  and  Wood  counties,  Va.,  whose  forges  and  fur- 
naces must  soon  darken  the  air  with  their  smoke,  and 
yield  a  stream  of  wealth  to  enliven  commerce,  both  at  the 
east  and  the  west. 

"  4th.  And  the  superior  advantages  in  providing  a  route 
which  will  enable  the  western  merchant  to  procure  his 
goods  at  an  earlier  period  in  the  spring,  and  one  not  liable 
to  disappointments  from  low  water  oi*  ice  in  the  Ohio,  will 
not  escape  the  notice  of  the  intelligent  merchant.  In 
comparing  the  advantages  ©f  Wheeling  as  a  place  of  desti- 
nation for  the  road,  with  Pittsburg,  it  has  been  justly  ob- 
served that  'the  Ohio  is  sometimes  too  low  in  summer, 
and    in  winter  is   mostly  frozen.'     This  will    apply  with 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  221 

«qual  justice  in  the  comparison  between  Wheeling  and 
Marietta,  as  the  Ohio  receives  no  accession  of  water  by 
any  large  stream  to  benefit  the  navigation  above  Marietta 
and  below  Pittsburg,  and  the  difference  in  latitude  be- 
tween. Wheeling  and  Pittsburg  is  indeed  small. 

"The  distance  between  Baltimore  and  the  mouth  of 
Muskingum,  and  of  the  same  from  Wheeling,  are  about 
the  same;  and  no  reason  has  yet  been  assigned  to  show 
that  the  expense  of  constructing  the  road  to  the  one  will 
exceed  the  other;  the  expense  of  carriage  on  the  road 
must  necessarily  be  equal ;  the  saving,  then,  of  distance  in 
travel  to  all  destined  to  the  Muskingum  and  below,  must  be 
at  least  eighty  miles.  The  traveler  would  also  arrive  at  a 
point  where  he  would  seldom  meet  with  any  difficulty  in 
descending  the  Ohio  from  the  causes  assigned  as  objec- 
tions to  A\nieeling  and  Pittsburg;  the  merchant  of  the 
West  would  thus  be  enabled  to  have  his  goods  conveyed 
more  regularly,  and  more  in  season  for  his  customers  than 
he  could  possibly  obtain  them  from  New  York  or  Phila- 
delphia by  the  way  of  Pittsburg,  and  of  course  your  city 
would,  to  a  great  degree,  be  placed  beyond  competition 
from  those  places. 

"  In  conclusion,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  remark  that 
great  confidence  can  safely  be  placed  in  the  co-operation 
of  the  state  authorities  of  Ohio  for  granting  every  aid  to 
advance  the  views  and  best  interests  of  the  city  of  Balti- 
mcfi'e  and  the  company,  if  their  measures  should  promise 
reciprocal  advantages,  such  as  will,  in  the  end,  insure  the 
mutual  benefit  of  the  great  body  of  their  people,  and  of 
the  said  company. 

"It  is  matter  of  history  that  Ohio,  with  a  boldness  and 
energy  without  a  parallel,  entered  into  the  most  extended 
system  of  internal  improvements  (even  while  all  others 
were  in  experiment),  and  their  success,  hitherto,  has  far 
exceeded  their  most  sanguine  expectation,  benefiting,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  every  portion  of  the  state.  The 
people,  therefore,  will  ever  be  ready  to  sustain  their  gov- 
ernment in  all  enlightened  measures,  without  regarding 
the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking.     They  also  look  upon 


222  Life  of  Ejphraim  Cutler. 

Baltimore  as  placed  in  a  geographical  position,  uniting 
greater  natural  advantages,  as  a  great  commercial  mart 
on  the  Atlantic  waters,  to  supply  their  wants  and  receive 
their  produce,  than  any  other. 

"  The  undersigned  would,  in  behalf  of  those  he  repre- 
sents, most  earnestly  solicit  the  consideration  of  the  views 
he  has  the  honor  to  present,  and  would  most  respectfully 
ask  (if  it  is  not  inconsistent  with  your  arrangements)  that 
a  further  examination  of  the  route,  which  has  herein  been 
presented,  be  ordered,  and  also  inquiry  made,  not  only  of 
the  facts  stated,  but  of  numerous  others  bearing  favorably 
on  this  important  subject.  For  a  further  and  more  lumi- 
nous exposition  of  the  benefits  which  must  accrue  to  the 
city  of  Baltimore  and  to  the  railroad  company,  he  would 
refer  you  to  the  accompanying  expose  of  a  committee  of 
Washington  County,  signed  by  ISTahum  AVard  and  others, 
and  notices  of  reports  from  the  Board  of  Public  Works, 
and  engineers  acting  under  their  authority.  All  which  is 
herewith  most  respectfully  submitted. 

"  Ephraim  Cutler, 
'■'■Agent  of  the  Citizens  of  Washi/igton  County,  Ohio. 
"  Baltimore,  April  25,  1837."' 

The  Hon.  Lewis  McLane,  President-elect  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad,  was  at  that  time  in  iSTew  York. 
Judge  Cutler's  friends  in  Baltimore  advised  him  to  go  and 
see  Mr.  McLane,  in  whom  all  placed  entire  confidence. 
Unwilling  to  return  without  some  assurance  that  the 
examination  asked  for  would  be  authorized,  he  went  to  Kew 
York,  and  from  the  Mansion  House,  in  that  city,  writes : 

"  May  1,  1837. — This  morning  I  called  on  the  Hon. 
Lewis  McLane,  introduced  by  Dr.  Coe,  of  Lidianapolis,  a 
very  interesting  man,  with  whom  I  became  acquainted  in 
Baltimore.  I  gave  Mr.  McLane  my  letters  of  introduction 
from  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing,  Hon.  S.  F.  Vinton  and  others, 
with  the  memorial  which  I  had  prepared.  He  received 
me  with  much  politeness,  and  assured  me  that  the  point 
where  the  road  should  reach  the  Ohio  was  a  matter  left 
open,  or  he  would  not  have  accepted  the  appointment  of 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  223 

President.  After  a  pleasant  interview  he  named  the  next 
evening  for  a  further  conference,  when  the  whole  subject 
can  be  fully  discussed."  Writing  later  he  says :  "  Mr. 
McLane  gave  me  a  most  courteous  and  favorable  hearing, 
and  promised  to  promote  the  object  of  my  mission,  but 
said  that  in  the  present  state  of  the  country,  as  respects 
monetary  affairs,  nothing  farther  could  be  done  than  to 
Diake  examinations,  but  that  I  might  rely  upon  it  the 
route  I  recommended  should  be  examined,  and  no  route 
would  be  established  until  the  people  I  represented  had  an 
opportunity  to  make  farther  representations. 

"  Eespecting  financial  matters,  all  are  in  confusion  and 
dismay  here.  A  gentleman  who  visited  me  in  Ohio  more 
than  thirty  years  ago,  now  a  most  respectable  merchant 
here,  told  me  that  he  had  witnessed  the  embargo,  the  war, 
the  cholera,  and  the  great  conflagration,  and  that,  all  to- 
gether, they  did  not  occasion  so  much  distress  in  New 
York  as  the  present  crisis  in  money  matters.  How  it  will 
end  is  known  only  to  Him  who  rules  according  to  His  awn 
wisdom,  and  can  bring  order  and  prosperity  out  of  disaster." 

Judge  Cutlers  interest  in  the  improvement  of  the  coun- 
try by  means  of  railroads  was  an  abiding  one.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1839,  he  received,  while  at  Harrisburg  attending  the 
National  Whig  Convention,  the  following  letter : 

"  Marietta,  Ohio,  November  30,  1839. 
"  Dear  Sir  : — At  a  meeting  of  citizens  of  this  county, 
held  to-day  in  the  court-house  of  this  place,  the  under- 
signed were  appointed  a  committee  for  the  purpose  of 
addressing  the  directors  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
Company  in  reference  to  the  termination  of  said  road  on 
the  Ohio,  so  as  to  connect  with  the  valley  of  the  Muskingum. 
As  you  have  heretofore  acted  as  agent  of  our  citizens  in  this 
behalf,  and  have  acquitted  yourself  therein  with  great  ac- 
ceptance, we  solicit  your  continued  service  in  the  agency, 
and  that  you  will  immediately  repair  to  Baltimore  and 
obtain  interviews  with  the  said  Board  of  Directors,  and 
seek  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  its  members  the  great 
importance  of  terminating  the  road  in  this  section  of  the 


224  Life  of  Ej)hraim  Cutler. 

Ohio  valley.  The  subject  and  its  bearings  and  details  are 
so  well  known  to  you  that  we  deem  it  unnecessary  to  add 
further  instructions.  We  ask  your  report  as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable.    We  are,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Nahum  Ward, 
John  Mills, 
Joseph  Barker,  Jr., 
Augustus  Stone, 
Caleb  Emerson." 

The  report  asked  for  was  made  immediately  after  his 
return  home,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  N.  Ward,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  Railrood  Committee,  Etc. — 

"Sir: — Agreeable  to  the  request  of  the  Committee,  as 
soon  as  the  Convention  at  Harrisburg  closed  its  business, 
I  took  the  railroad  cars  and  proceeded  to  Baltimore  via 
Philadelphia. 

"  I  found  I  could  not  have  an  interview  with  Mr.  Mc- 
Lane  without  remaining  some  time  longer  than  I  could 
willingly  devote  to  that  object.  I  also  believed  that  it 
would  answer  as  valuable  a  purpose  to  condense  what  I 
suppose  to  be  your  views  into  the  form  of  a  letter  addressed 
to  him,  as  to  communicate  them  orally.  A  copy  of  what 
I  thus  prepared  accompanies  this  communication. 

"  I  improved  every  available  opportunity  for  obtaining 
information  respecting  the  extent  of  the  operations  of  the 
railroad  company,  their  prospects  and  intentions. 

"  I  find  that  they  have  completed  the  main  stem  of  the 
road  eighty-two  miles,  exclusive  of  the  Winchester  por- 
tion, which  they  also  call  the  main  stem.  Though  the 
negotiation  with  the  Virginia  Company,  relative  to 
merging  the  companies  into  one,  is,  I  believe,  not  yet 
fully  accomplished,  every  member  of  the  board  spontane- 
ously called  the  Winchester  road  the  main  stem,  and  said 
it  must  ascend  the  Alleschanies  to  near  Armstrong's  in 
the  green  glades. 

"  Mr.  McLane  only  succeeded  in  Europe  to  negotiate  a 
sale  of  stock  to  the  Barings  and  Company,  London,  to  the 
.amount  of  ten  thousands  pounds  sterling  per  month,  for 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  225 

a  limited  time,  perhaps  eight  or  ten  months,  which  enables 
them  to  continue  the  branch  toward  Cumberland,  all  of 
which  is  now  under  contract,  a  large  part  finished,  and 
more  or  less  done  the  M^hole  way.  It  will  probably  be 
completed  next  summer.  None  of  the  road  above  Har- 
per's Ferry  is  in  use  at  present. 

"  The  company  now  have  on  hand  $3,000,000  of  the 
state  of  Maryland,  and  |3,000,000  of  the  city  of  Baltimore 
stocks,  none  of  which  are  disposed  of  except  those  to  the 
Messrs.  Barings,  London,  which  is  not  expected  to  exceed 
$500,000.  They  have  now  a  project  to  render  these  stocks 
available  by  issuing  bills,  as  a  currency,  of  all  denomina- 
tions, that  shall  suit  the  public  convenience,  even  to  less 
than  a  dollar,  stipulated  to  be  redeemed  in  three  years  at 
three  per  cent,  interest ;  and  with  this  condition  that 
holders  to  the  amount  of  $100  may  receive  a  share  of 
stock,  which  is  $100.  They  hope  in  this  way  to  dispose  of 
a  good  portion  of  their  stocks. 

"  They  have  collected  on  the  82  miles  of  road  now  in 
use,  upwards  of  $700,000  during  the  current  year,  being 
an  increase  to  a  large  amount  by  the  burden  cars,  carrying 
goods,  produce,  etc.,  also  some  increase  of  passengers. 
The  cost  of  the  thirteen  miles  from  Baltimore  to  Ellicot's 
Mills  was  $60,000  per  mile  ;  the  remainder  to  Harper's 
Ferry,  $20,000  per  mile. 

"  It  is  held  out  in  the  late  reports  that  it  will  take  360 
miles  to  reach  the  Ohio,  without  specifying  the  point 
where.  Those  with  whom  I  conversed  were  the  individ- 
uals who,  when  I  saw  them  two  years  ago,  supposed 
Wheeling  would  be  the  place  of  termination.  Although 
the  hopes  of  some,  who  did  not  take  a  correct  view  of  the 
difieulties  to  be  encountered,  have  been  disappointed, 
I  believe  the  intelligent  are  not  discouraged,  but  with  con- 
fident assurance  of  success,  anticipate  its  connection  with 
the  Muskingum. 

"  With  sentiments  of  respect  for  your  honorable  com- 
mittee, and  for  yourself,  I  am  as  ever, 

"Your  devoted  servant, 

Ephraim  Cutler." 
15 


226  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

The  communication  made  to  the  president  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  men- 
tioned above,  was  as  follows  : 

"  To  the  Honorable  Louis  McLane,  President  of  the  Baltimore 

and  Ohio  Railroad  Company : 

"  A  committee  of  the  citizens  of  Marietta,  and  Wash- 
ington county,  Ohio,  appointed  with  especial  reference  to 
collecting  information  on  the  subject  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad,  have  requested  me  to  communicate  with 
you,  and  to  respectfully  state,  that  to  them  it  appears 
more  clearly  than  at  the  time  I  had  the  honor  to  present 
to  you,  in  1837,  a  memorial  on  the  subject  of  extending 
that  great  national  work  to  the  Ohio  river,  that  to  con- 
summate this  desirable  object  by  giving  it  the  direction  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  river,  would  produce  the 
greatest  amount  of  public  good,  and  prove  far  more  bene- 
ficial to  the  company  than  any  other  route  which  can  be 
adopted. 

"  In    addition    to   what    was    stated    in  the    memorial 
referred  to,  they  can  now  state  the  fact  that  the  improve- 
ments, by  slack-water  steam-boat  navigation  of  the  Musk- 
ingum have  been   prosecuted  with  great  spirit,  and  will 
probably   be   completed   the   ensuing   summer.      That   a 
turnpike     road    has    been     constructed    eastward     from 
Marietta  sixteen  miles,  through  Ohio,  intended  to  connect 
with  the  Winchester  and  Parkersburg  roads  in  Virginia. 
That  turnpikes  are  in  progress  to  Zanesville  and  to  Lan- 
caster; and  that  the  public  appear  to  be  aroused  in  favor 
of  a  railroad  up  the  Muskingum  to  the  Lakes,  and  west- 
ward towards  Cincinnati,  and  the  Father  of  Waters.     It 
is  presumed  that  to  minds  who  cpnld  years  ago  conceive 
the  project  of  constructing  a  railroad  across  the  Alleghany 
mountains,  and  could  do  so  much  towards  its  accomplish- 
ment as   has   been    already   effected,  it   will    not   appear 
chimerical  that  the  people  of  Ohio  and  the  West,  deeply 
as  their  interests  are  involved,  should  look  forward  with 
strong  expectation  that  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
will  be  continued  until  it  reaches  the  Mississippi.     Passing 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  227 

centrally  through  one  of  the  most  fertile  portions  of  the 
globe,  containing  now  more  than  three  millions  of  free, 
independent,  intelligent,  and  enterprising  inhabitants,  in- 
creasing in  numbers,  improvements  and  wealth,  far  beyond 
any  former  example — stimulated  by  every  excitement 
that  can  prompt  the  human  mind  to  engage  in  great  and 
noble  undertakings,  and  with  every  reason  to  expect 
success — it  appears  to  them  that  it  must  be  accomplished. 

"  We  apprehend  that  your  progress  for  the  present 
meets  with  embarrassment,  caused  by  the  unsettled  state 
of  monetary  transactions,  both  in  our  ow^n  country  and  in 
Europe.  We,  however,  earnestly  and  confidently  hope 
that  this  state  of  things  will  not  last  long,  but  that  you 
will  soon  '  put  things  right,  and  then  go  ahead '  with 
accelerated  motion. 

"  The  importance  of  such  a  communication  up  the 
Muskingum  and  through  the  West  becomes  every  day 
more  apparent.  Western  Virginia  looks  to  Muskingum 
for  salt ;  Ohio  and  the  westward  will  look  to  Western  Vir- 
ginia for  iron.  The  West  needs,  and  will  seek  her  salt 
from  the  Muskingum  and  Hocking  valleys.  It  is  probable 
that  millions  of  bushels  of  that  article  would  be  trans- 
ported for  a  greater  or  less  distance  on  the  road,  should  it 
be  continued  according  to  the  foregoing  suggestion. 
Large  quantities  of  tobacco  are  produced  on  or  near  the 
route  designated.  It  would  also  pass  over  the  burr  mill- 
stone regions ;  in  other  parts,  grindstones  and  other  stoue 
for  various  uses,  would  add  to  the  business  and  profits  ot 
this  road.  The  foregoing  articles  are  mentioned  as  addi- 
tional sources  of  revenue  to  the  vast  amount  of  goods,  and 
all  kinds  of  produce,  which  will  seek  a  conveyance  in  this 
manner. 

"  You  will  observe  that  a  direct  line  drawn  from  Balti- 
more to  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  will  intersect  the  point  on  the 
Alleghany  mountains,  wiiere  the  road  will  probably  cross ; 
also  Clarksburg,  Va.,  and  Marietta,  Ohio.  It  could  then 
be  continued  westward  through  a  country  where  a  railroad 
can  be  constructed  with  as  little  labor  as  in  any  other 
region,  and   might  also  connect  by  a  very  short  branch, 


228  Life  of  Ephraim.  Cutler. 

with  Cincinnati.  It  would  traverse  a  most  fertile  region, 
now  fiist  becoming  densely  populated.  Some  of  the 
counties,  and  thbse  among  the  earliest  settled  in  Ohio, 
have  nearly  doubled  their  inhabitants  in  the  last  four 
years.  The  improvements  made  demonstrate  the  ability 
to  assist  in  making,  as  well  as  the  need  of  such  a  work  as 
that  in  which  you  are  engaged.  In  short,  to  us  it  appears 
that  it  is  but  to  persevere  in  the  right  direction,  and  the 
fruition  of  every  hope  is  certain.  Baltimore  must  become 
the  commercial  emporium  of  the  United  America. 

"  It  is  a  subject  of  great  interest  to  the  gentlemen  I 
represent,  and  to  the  people  of  Marietta,  and  AVashington 
county;  and  any  information  concerning  your  progress, 
or  whatever  else  you  may  think  proper  to  communicate, 
will  be  regarded  as  a  favor,  and  be  thankfully  acknowl- 
edged. Any  such  communication  may  be  directed  to 
]N'ahum  Ward,  Esq.,  Marietta. 

"In  case  a  survey,  or  further  examination  towards  the 

Ohio  in  the  direction  of  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum 

should  be  directed  by  your  company,  any  local  information 

or  assistance  will  be  most  cheerfully  rendered. 

"  With  the  highest  consideration  and  respect, 

Ephraim  Cutler." 
''December  11,  1839. 


Life  of  Ephraim,  Cutler.  229 


CHAPTER  X. 

1837—1853. 

Visit  to  IsTeav  England — Presbyterian  General  Assembly 
— Historical  Association — Letters — Conclusion. 

In  1837,  while  in  New  York  on  railroad  business,  Judge 
Cutler  received  a  communication  appointing  him  a  dele- 
gate to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
which  was  to  meet  in  Philadelphia.  As  more  than  two 
weeks  intervened  before  the  assembly  could  convene,  he 
decided  to  go  on  to  IS'ew  England,  which  he  had  left  in 
1795,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years,  and  had  never  re- 
visited. Extracts  from  letters  and  memoranda,  written  at 
this  time,  are  here  given  : 

"  May  3,  1837. — Arrived  at  Killingly  and  went  to  the 
house  kept  by  Capt.  Luther  Warren  on  the  hill.  Called 
on  Mr.  Simon  Copp  and  Col.  Torrey  ;  then  went  to  see 
my  old  minister  and  excellent  friend,  Rev.  Elisha  Atkins, 
now  in  his  eighty-seventh  year.  I  found  him  as  erect  as  in 
his  youth,  and  as  graceful  in  his  manners — a  perfect  gentle- 
man. When  I  was  introduced  he  said,  '  Cutler  ?  Cutler  ? 
I  once  knew  Ephraim  Cutler,  but  he  removed  a  long  time 
time  ago  to  the  West.'  I  said :  '  I  am  the  man.'  He 
clasped  me  in  his  arms  and  was  so  agitated  that  it  took 
him  some  time  to  recover  himself ;  at  length  he  said : 
'  There  is  not  a  man  in  tlie  world  I  could  be  gladder  to 
see.' 

"From  Mr.  Atkins's  house  we  went  to  hear  a  lecture 
from  Mr.  Holman,  his  colleague.  The  meeting-house  is  a 
beautiful,  well  finished  building,  on  a  commanding  site  on 
North  Killingly  Hill,  the  prospect  from  which  is  enchant- 
ing. 

"  May  4. — I  spent  the  most  of  this  day  (Thursday)  in 
walking  about  Killingly,  which  is  to  me  one  of  the  pleas- 
antest  places  I  ever  saw.     I  called  on    Mr.  Atkins,  Dr. 


230  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

Grosvenor,  Mr.  Oliver  Torrey,  and  other  friends.  Dined 
with  Mr.  Asa  Cutler,  and  took  tea  at  Mr.  Joseph  Torrey's. 
The  next  two  da^^s  Col.  Hobart  Torrey  devoted  his  time 
to  driving  with  me,  to  give  me  an  opportunity  to  see  the 
astonishingly  great  improvements  in  the  place.  He  took 
me  to  four  factories  on  Five  Mile  Eiver,  beginning  at  the 
Mason,  and  ending  at  the  Howe  or  Killingly.  Kext  we 
visited  the  Rhodes  factory,  where  I  met  Mr.  Adams,  who 
returned  here  some  fifteen  years  ago  from  Ohio,  where 
most  of  his  father's  family  died  during  the  sickly  seasons, 
1821-1823.  He  is  now  a  tall,  tine  looking  man,  is  happily 
married,  and  has  greatly  prospered.  We  then  went  to 
'  Wilkinson's  Factory.'  I  found  Mr.  Smith  Wilkinson,  the 
principal,  a  most  interesting,  energetic,  and  valuable  man. 
I  had  the  happiness  to  see  Mrs.  Wilkinson,  who  is  the 
daughter  of  my  lamented  and  much  loved  friend,  Samson 
Howe,  Esq.  We  saw  in  all  tifteen  cotton  and  three  woolen 
factories,  , 

"  We  came  home  by  the  graveyard  where  are  buried  my 
grandfather,  who  died  October  11,  1792,  in  the  87th  year 
of  his  age  ;  my  grandmother,  Susanna  Cutler,  who  died 
April  8, 1774,  in  the  63d  year  of  her  age  ;  my  grandfather's 
second  wife,  Abigail  Cutler,  who  died  October  24,  1790. 
There,  also,  lies  my  uncle,  Ephraim  Cutler,  who  died  May 
22,  1766,  in  the  22d  year  of  his  age. 

'■'■May  8. — I  spent  Saturday  night  with  Rev.  Mr.  Atkins  ; 
and  on  the  Sabbath  went  to  meetino;.  A  lars^e  cons-res^a- 
tion  were  assembled,  and  the  sacrament  was  administered. 
I  had  the  satisfaction  of  joining  in  this  solemn  ordinance 
with  a  number  of  my  old  friends ;  and  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  others,  now  gone  to  their  eternal  home.  It 
was  to  me  a  day  of  as  intense  feeling  as  I,  perhaps,  ever 
experienced.  To-day  (Monday)  I  leave  for  Massachusetts. 
The  time  I  have  spent  in  Killingly  has  been  full  of  in- 
terest. The  sayings  and  doings  of  former  years  have  been 
pleasantly  recalled,  and  I  have  every-where  met  a  most 
cordial  reception.  My  emotions,  on  visiting  again  these 
scenes  of  my  early  life,  after  an  absence  of  forty-two 
years,  have   been  of  the  most  thrilling   character.     The 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  231 

kindness  of  old  neighbors  and  friends  almost  overwhelms 
me. 

"  Every  rock,  the  hills,  valleys  and  streams,  many  of  the 
stone  walls  and  enclosures  serve  to  call  up  recollections 
without  number,  of  youthful  pastimes  and  pleasures, 
shared  by  dear  departed  friends.  The  scenes  are  all 
familiar,  excepting  the  new  improvements,  and  these  have 
only  heightened  my  delight.  I  have  nowhere  seen  such 
important  changes,  I  may  almost  say  creations,  as  here  iu 
Killingly.  From  being  one  of  the  least  towns  in  Connec- 
ticut, in  now  ranks  in  wealth,  handsome  buildings,  and  in 
moral  and  intellectual  excellence,  with  the  best." 

The  next  week  was  spent  in  Massachusetts,  where  he 
found  "  the  scenes  all  new,  as  much  so  as  if  in  a  foreign 
clime."  Of  his  visit  to  Hamilton,  where  his  father  had 
filled  the  pulpit  for  more  than  half  a  century,  he  writes  : 

"  I  was  in  my  father's  house ;  it  is  much  altered ;  and 
his  beautiful  garden  is  all  destroyed.  We  went  into  his 
church,  and  from  thence  to  the  quiet  grave-yard,  where 
the  mortal  frames  of  my  dear  parents  are  mouldering  iu 
the  dust.  The  stones  which  mark  their  graves,  erected 
by  the  people  of  his  charge,  bear  these  inscriptions : 

"  *  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Mary  Cutler,  consort 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  M.  Cutler,  who  deceased  November  3, 1815, 
in  the  73d  year  of  her  age. 

"  '  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord.' 

"  '  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  LL.D.  He  died  July  28, 1823, 
in  the  82d  year  of  his  age.  He  was  beloved  for  his  do- 
mestic and  social  virtues.  His  talents  were  of  an  high 
order.  He  was  eminent  for  his  botanical,  medical,  politi- 
cal, and  theological  knowledge.  He  was  a  member  of  lit- 
erary and  scientific  societies  in  both  Europe  and  America. 
After  a  useful  ministry  in  this  place  of  52  years,  he  expired 
with  a  firm  and  peaceful  reliance  on  his  Redeemer.  They 
that  trust  in  the  Lord  shall  be  as  Mount  Zion,  which  can 
not  be  removed,  but  abideth  forever.'  " 

After  a  pleasant  visit  with  friends  in  Massachusetts,  he 
went  to  Philadelphia  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Pres- 


232  Life  of  Ejphraim  Cutler. 

byterian  General  Assembly.     His  commission  was  as  fol- 
lows : 

"The  Presbytery  of  Athens  being  met  in  Barlow  on  the 
14th  of  April,  1837,  hereby  appoint  Ephraim  Cutler,  ruling 
elder  in  the  congregation  of  Warren,  to  be  a  commissioner 
in  behalf  of  this  Presbytery  to  the  next  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, to  meet  in  Philadelphia  on  the  third  Thursday  of 
May,  1837,  or  wherever  or  whenever  the  said  Assembly 
may  happen  to  meet,  to  consult,  vote,  and  determine  on 
all  things  that  may  come  before  that  body,  according  to 
the  principles  and  constitution  of  this  Church  and  the 
word  of  God.  And  of  his  diligence  herein  he  is  to  render 
an  account  on  his  return, 

"  Signed  by  order  of  Presbytery, 

*'  L.  G.  Bingham,  Moderator. 

"H.  R.  Howe,  Clerk.'' 

This  memorable  assembly  met  at  Philadelphia,  Thurs- 
day, May  18, 1837.     Judge  Cutler  writes  : 

"  The  opening  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  With- 
erspoon,  from  1st  Cor.,  Ist  chap.,  10th  and  11th  verses. 
The  assembly  was  organized  by  electing  Rev.  David  El- 
liot, D.D.,  Moderator.  The  othcers  are  all  Old  School. 
The  doings  and  debates  of  the  assembly  will  be  reported 
by  Mr.  Stansbury,  said  to  be  one  of  the  best  reporters  in 
the  United  States. 

"  I  am  boarding  at  Mrs.  Travelli's.  Pier  son  is  a  mis- 
sionary in  a  foreign  field.  I  have  a  very  pleasant  room  on 
the  second  floor.  There  are  also  boarding  here,  Rev. 
Enoch  Kingsbury  and  Rev.  Frederick  W.  Graves,  of  the 
Hlinois  Synod ;  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thurston,  from  the  General 
Conference  of  Maine ;  Rev,  Alanson  Saunders  and  Elder 
Harmon  Kingsbury,  of  the  Western  Reserve  Synod ;  Rev. 
Benjamin  Dolbear,  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio ;  Rev.  Calvin 
Cutler,  from  Windham,  N.  11.,  of  the  Synod  of  Albany; 
and  Elder  Robert  Aickman,  of  the  Second  Presbytery, 
New  York  City.     They  are  all  pleasant  gentlemen." 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  233 

The  notes  he  kept  are  incomplete,  yet  they  indicate  his 
deep  interest  in  the  subjects  discussed  and  decisions  made. 

'■'May  26th. — I  have  listened  to-day  to  one  of  the  most 
argumentative  speeches  from  Dr.  Beman  I  have  ever 
heard  ;  full  of  well  turned  sarcasm,  yet  firm  and  dignified  ; 
and  to  one  of  the  kindest  from  Dr.  McAuley ;  also  to  one 
very  conclusive  in  its  reasoning  from  Dr.  Peters.  Mr. 
Jessup  and  Mr.  Ambrose  White  have  both  spoken  in  the 
best  manner  on  the  same  subject,  which  is  a  set  of  resolu- 
tions entirely  revolutionary  in  their  character,  and  directly 
violating  the  principles  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as 
well  as  those  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  calculated  to 
cast  undeserved  odium  on  a  portion  of  the  church,  and  as 
arbitrary  as  any  measures  lately  adopted  by  the  Pope  of 
Rome. 

"Jffrt?/  — ,  1837. — I  can  not  record  in  detail  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  assembly,  but  many  things  have  been  done 
recklessly,  and  by  an  exercise  of  power  clearly  unconsti- 
tutional. I  heard  Mr.  McDowell  say,  '  that  what  the  as- 
sembly have  already  done  would  produce  more  evil  in 
Philadelphia  than  could  be  undone  by  all  the  preaching 
and  praying  of  all  the  ministers  for  a  year.'  This  with 
tears  in  his  eyes.  They  have  annulled  the  agreement, 
made  in  1801,  at  the  instance  of  the  general  assembly, 
with  the  Connecticut  association  ;  thus  breaking  a  solemn 
league  and  covenant,  and  invalidating  the  rights  of  a  large 
part  of  the  church.  This  is  a  dereliction  of  moral  princi- 
ple, such  as  is  not  often,  I  hope,  to  be  found  even  in 
political  diplomacy.  They  have,  accordingly,  cut  ofl"  the 
Synod  of  the  "Western  Reserve,  and  turned  them  out  of 
the  assembly;  and  it  was  said  the  most  of  New  York 
would  meet  the  same  fate  to-morow,  Mr.  Breckenridge 
has  denounced  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  called 
on  the  assembly  to  pass  resolutions  disapproving  of  it. 
This  society  occupies  a  field  in  our  part  of  the  country,, 
where,  through  the  instrumentality  of  its  missionaries, 
large  numbers  have  been  gathered  into  the  church  who, 
by  their  walk  and  conversation,  are  consistent  Christians, 
and  whom  I  humbly  hope  to  meet  in  a  happy  immortality. 


234  Life  of  JEphraim  Cutler. 

Multitudes  in  the  destitute  regions  of  the  West  would, 
prohahlj,  only  through  these  faithful  laborers,  have  heard 
the  word  of  life  preached,  or  have  obtained  a  saving  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth. 

"•June  2d. — The  Old  School  have  in  the  Assembly  a  ma- 
jority of  six  in  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  votes.  Last 
evening  upward  of  one  hundred  of  the  minority  met,  and 
after  being  impressively  addressed  by  Dr.  Beman,  Mr. 
Jessup,  and  others,  solemnly  agreed  not  to  separate  until 
the  end  of  the  Assembly,  and  not  until  ulterior  measures 
shall,  if  possible,  be  agreed  upon. 

"June  7th. — The  minority  have  agreed  on  all  future  oper- 
ations, as  far  as  foreseen.  My  own  affairs  force  themselves 
upon  me  and  divide  my  attention,  Init  I  endeavor  to  keep 
under  every  feeling  that  would  unfit  me  to  act  with  a 
spirit  of  Christian  kindness  and  forbearance,  and  at  the 
same  time,  with  a  sacred  regard  to  my  obligations  as  a 
representative  of  our  portion  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  I 
have  been  appointed  on  a  committee  wnth  Dr.  Beman  and 
Dr.  Peters  on  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society, 
and  am  to  prepare  and  send  to  Dr.  Peters  a  history  of  the 
work  of  the  society  in  Ohio." 

This  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  was  one  of  the 
most  important  and  exciting  that  ever  occurred  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  heated  discussions  on  subjects  of  deep  and 
general  interest  ended  in  a  disruption  of  the  church,  and 
that  generation  passed  away  before  these  dissensions  were 
healed,  and  the  reunited  church  moved  forward  in  the 
great  work  of  evano-elizino;  the  world. 

In  the  autumn  of  1839  Judge  Cutler  was  appointed  a 
delegate  to  represent  the  Sixth  Congressional  District  of 
Ohio,  at  the  National  Whig  Convention,  to  be  held  in 
Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  De- 
cember, 1839,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

He  left  home  for  Harrisburg  on  the  26th  of  November ; 
the  weather  was  unusually  cold  for  the  season  of  the  year. 
On  the  steamboat  in  which  he  took  passage  he  found  Mr. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  235 

Jackson,  of  Parkersbiirg,  Virginia.  The  boat  beat  its  way 
through  the  ice  drifting  in  the  Ohio,  and  arrived  the  next 
day  at  Wheeling,  and  lie  met  there  Mr.  Ira  Belknap,  of 
Zanesville,  and  Judge  Jacob  Burnet,  of  Cincinnati,  on 
their  way  to  Harrisburg,  with  whom  he  proceeded  to 
Pittsburg.  Here  they  were  joined  by  several  other  dele- 
gates to  the  Convention.  He  mentions  in  his  notes:  Mr. 
Leach,  Mr.  Gray,  of  Pennsylvania,  Dr.  Bronson,  of  Ohio, 
Mr.  Clark  and  Mr.  Huntington,  of  Indiana,  "  both  pleasant 
gentlemen  ;  "  also  Mr.  Bates  and  Mr.  Drake,  of  Michigan, 
"  very  agreeable  and  sound  men."  They  left  Pittsburg  on 
the  morning  of  l^ovember  29,  to  go  by  stage  to  Harrisburg, 
where  they  arrived  early  on  the  first  day  of  December, 
after  a  cold  and  fatiguing  journey,  in  which  they  were 
kept  on  the  road  all  the  previous  night,  and  were  then 
taken  to  a  very  unsatisfactory  hotel. 

'■'■December  2d,  Monday. — Paid  our  bill  at  the  hotel,  and 
went  to  Camp's,  where  we  should  have  gone  at  first.  This 
is  a  good  house,  with  every  thing  right.  General  Murphy 
and  Colonel  Pendleton  called  upon  us  at  our  quarters. 
Was  introduced  to  Governor  Shultz,  a  fine  old  Dutch  gen- 
tleman. In  the  afternoon  we  held  a  meeting  for  consulta- 
tion, at  which  there  were  present  nine  delegates  from 
Ohio,  four  from  Indiana,  and  two  from  Michigan.  We 
had  a  free  conversation,  each  delegate  gave  a  report  of 
prospects  in  his  own  district.  The  prevailing  opinion  was 
that  Harrison  has  the  preference.  Judge  Burnet  spoke 
as  I  have  heard  him  in  olden  time.  It  was  a  candid,  pow- 
erful, and  effective  speech. 

'■'■December  Sd,  Tuesday. — Governor  Barbour  and  other 
delegates  from  Virginia  arrived  to-day ;  also  those  from 
Kentuckv,  anions^  whom  was  Governor  Metcalf.  I  had 
some  sharp-shooting  with  a  Kentucky  man.  Was  intro- 
duced by  Judge  Burnet  to  General  Van  Rensselaer,  a  dig- 
nified man,  some  sixty-five  years  old.  He  converses  with 
much  ease.  Had  conversation  with  several  other  New 
York  delegates.  Opinions  appear  to  be  settling  on  Har- 
rison, though  some  New  York  men  favor  Scott.  Mr.  Wil- 
liamson, of  Huntingdon,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Lawrence, 


236  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

of  Washington,  are  both  warm  friends  of  General  Harri- 
son. It  is  said  that  Williamson  is  the  man  who  first 
started  Harrison  for  the  Presidency.  He  and  a  few  oth- 
ers  put  his  name  up  in  1832,  and  it  took  like  wild-fire  in 
Pennsylvania. 

'■'■December  Ath,  Wednesday. — The  convention   met,   Mr. 
Mason,  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  chair,  Mr.  Penrose  and 

,  clerks.     The  roll  was  called,  and  upwards  of  two 

hundred  answered  to  their  names.  We  assembled  in  a  place 
which  was  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  the  Most  High 
God,  and  Colonel  John  Johnston,  of  Ohio,  moved  that  our 
deliberations  be  opened  with  prayer,  a  motion  which  I  was 
happy  to  second.  Every  one  seemed  to  feel  that  we  needed 
to  look  upward  for  wisdom  and  guidance,  and  the  most 
solemn  attention  was  paid  to  the  service  by  all  present. 

*'  A  committee  was  appointed  to  select  and  recommend 
permanent  officers.  The  convention  then  adjourned,  with 
an  understanding  that  the  delegation  from  each  state  should 
have  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  information 
from  their  members  in  order  to  ascertain  the  most  popular 
candidate  in  each  congressional  district,  and  condense  the 
facts  thus  obtained  for  use  in  the  convention.  The  Ohio 
delegation  met  at  4  o'clock  p.  m.  in  Judge  Burnet's  room. 
We  came  together  with  a  determined  resolution  not  to  in- 
sist upon  our  own  personal  preferences,  but  to  find  out  who- 
could  secure  the  electoral  vote  of  the  state,  and  compare 
the  probable  chances  of  this  candidate  in  other  states. 

"  The  seventeen  members  *  of  our  delegation  were  unan- 
imous in  opinion,  that  General  Harrison  was  the  only  candi- 

*  The  Ohio  delegates  who  attended  the  Whig  Convention  at  Harris- 
burg.  Pa.,  December,  1839,  were:  Jacob  Burnet,  of  Hamilton  County, 
and  Benjamin  Bently,  of  Wayne,  delegates  at  large.  Those  who  repre- 
sented the  congressional  districts  were:  Nathaniel  G.  Pendleton,  of 
Hamilton  County;  Cyrus  Falconer,  of  Butler ;  John  Johnston,  of  Butler; 
William  A.  Rogers,  of  Clarke;  Aquilla  Tolland,  of  Madison;  William 
S.  Murphy,  of  Knox;  John  M.  Creed,  of  Fairfield;  Ira  Belknap,  of 
MuskiDgum;  Ephraim  Cutler,  of  Washington);  Benjamin  S.  Cowen,  of 
Belmont;  Charles  F.  Sherman,  of  Richland;  Cyrus  Prentiss,  of  Portage  ; 
Holland  Green,  of  Columbiana;  John  S.  Lacy,  of  Harrison;  D.  F.  Bron- 
son,  of  Trumbull. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  237 

date  that  could  carry  Ohio,  and  yet  were  ready  to  yield  to 
the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  the  convention,  fairly  ex- 
pressed. 

'•'■Decemher  ^th,  Thursday. — The  convention,  when  per- 
manently organized,  was  presided  over  by  the  venerable 
Governor  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  supported  by  men  who 
have  been  governors  of  states,  or  have  held  other  eminent 
positions.  The  convention  presented  a  most  interesting 
group ;  composed  of  about  250  members,  representing 
twenty-three,  out  of  the  twenty-six  states  in  the  Union. 
They  were  a  dignified,  imposing,  and  remarkable  body  of 
men,  distinguished  for  intelligence,  public  services,  and  pat- 
riotism ;  many  of  them,  with  heads  whitened  by  age,  had, 
regardless  of  their  own  comfort,  defied  the  inclemency  of 
the  season,  and  were  here  at  a  sacrifice  of  time  and  con- 
yenience,  with  no  other  interest  to  serve  but  the  good  of 
the  public,  and  of  posterity. 

"  The  same  spirit  of  conciliation  which  was  manifested 
by  our  delegation,  seemed  to  pervade  the  delegations  from 
other  states.  It  appeared  that  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana 
were  placed  in  the  same  position  as  ourselves — every  thing 
to  hope  if  General  Harrison  is  the  nominee  ;  every  thing 
to  dread,  if  he  is  not.  We  found  Massachusetts,  Vermont 
and  Connecticut  were  with  us,  and  probably  the  whole  of 
the  Eastern  States.  The  South  used  all  their  influence  for 
Clay,  and  New  York  was  for  Gen.  Scott. 

^^ December  6th,  Friday. — On  the  third  day  of  the  conven- 
tion a  per  capita  vote  would  probably  have  resulted,  Clay 
102 ;  Harrison  91,  and  Scott  61.  After  five  ballotings  by 
states,  William  Henry  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  by  a  vote  of  148 
received  the  nomination  for  the  office  of  President  of  the 
United  States.  This  was  a  large  majority  of  the  electoral 
votes  of  the  states  represented  here,  and  also  a  majority  of 
the  entire  electoral  vote  of  the  Uniou. 

"  Scott  had  earnest  advocates,  and  Clay  many  warm  and 
devoted  friends,  and  yet  all  the  deliberations  were  conducted 
with  the  utmost  courtesy  and  good  feeling,  and  an  evident 
desire  to  act  for  the  best  interests  of  the  people.  This  was 
manifested  when  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson,  of  Maryland,  rose, 


238  Life  of  JEpkraim  Cutler. 

and  moved  that  the  nomination  be  made  unanimous.  Gov- 
ernor Metcalf,  Mr.  Combs,  Mr.  Preston,  and  others  from 
Kentucky,  expressed  their  perfect  acquiesense  in  the  deci- 
sion of  the  convention,  and  they,  with  many  other  gentle- 
men from  the  diiferent  states  represented,  made  eloquent 
and  patriotic  speeches,  pledging  themsleves  to  use  their 
best  eftbrts,  in  their  several  states,  to  secure  the  election  of 
Gen.  Harrison. 

"  Governor  Barbour  was  suggested  as  a  suitable  candi- 
date for  the  Vice-Presidency,  but  he  positively  decliuedy 
and  urged  the  nomination  of  Governor  John  Tyler,  of 
Virginia,  which  was  accordingly  made." 

This  convention  was  followed  by  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able political  campaigns  our  country  has  ever  witnessed. 
Judge  Cutler  writes,  a  few  months  later,  to  a  friend*  who 
was  with  him  at  Harrisbure; :  "  I  can  not  refrain  from  con- 
gratulating  you  on  the  result  of  our  labors  in  the  conven- 
tion. One  thing  of  vast  importance  is  accomplished,  the 
people  are  thoroughly  aroused  from  that  state  of  apathy 
and  desj)ondency,  bordering  upon  despair,  which  every- 
where prevailed  when  we  left  our  homes  to  attend  the  con- 
vention. But  from  the  time  I  left  Harrisburg  until  the 
present  hour,  every  man  I  have  met  seems  inspired  with  hope 
and  confidence  that  our  country  will  be  redeemed  from  its 
present  misrule.  The  young  men  are  beginning  to  inquire 
not  only  what  has  been  done,  but  what  they  have  a  right 
to  do.  I  have  been  surprised,  and  greatly  pleased  at  the 
able  manner  in  which  many  of  them  discuss  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  our  government,  and  the  duties  of  its  citizens. 

"  It  requires  something  powerful  to  arouse  the  people 
of  Washington  county.  They  are  intelligent,  and  reflect 
much  and  deeply,  and  are  far  from  coming  to  hasty  con- 
clusions, but  when  convinced,  they  are  not  lukewarm  in 
action,  nor  wanting  in  energy  and  perseverance.  The 
great  deep  of  public  feeling  is  broken  up,  and  nothing  can 
arrest  the  course  opinion  has  taken  but  omnipotent  power. 
It  is  an  uprising  of  the  whole  people,  and  confined  to  no 


*  Col.  John  Johnston. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  239' 

locality.  Every  log  cabin  in  the  land,  and  every  mansion, 
feels  the  impulse,  and  the  demand  for  reform  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  government  is  universal." 

The  strength  of  the  movement  was  lirst  manifested  by  a 
mass  meeting  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  held  on  the  22d  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1840,  where  many  thousands  from  all  parts  of  the 
state  assembled,  and  the  greatest  enthusiasm  prevailed. 

In  June  a  convention  was  held  at  Chester,  Meigs  county, 
to  nominate  a  Congressman  for  the  Sixth  District,  to 
which,  not  only  the  appointed  delegates,  but  the  people 
themselves  came  up.  This  meeting,  largely  attended  from 
adjoining  counties,  was  addressed  by  Hon.  S.  F.  Vinton, 
Judge  Cutler,  and  others.  The  Hon.  Calvary  Morris  was 
renominated  for  Congress  by  acclamation.  Many  earnest 
and  patriotic  men  came  "  straight  out "  from  the  Demo- 
cratic ranks  and  joined  the  Whigs. 

Although  past  three  score  years  and  ten.  Judge  Cutler 
attended  and  addressed  many  public  meetings  in  his  own 
county  and  in  Athens,  vying  with  younger  men  in  interest 
and  zeal. 

Mass  meetings,  pole-raisings,  and  processions  were  the 
order  of  the  day.  Flags  with  quaint  devices  and  appro- 
priate mottoes,  log-cabins,  and  canoes,  all  played  their 
part,  and  every-where  there  was  a  good-natured  but  noisy 
excitement.  Marietta  supplied  the  versatile  and  popular 
song-writer  of  the  campaign  (John  Greinei^),  and  his  songs 
were  greeted  with  as  loud  huzzas  as  the  eloquent  and  tell- 
ing speeches  of  Tom  Corwin  himself.  Those  scenes  are 
.still  recalled  by  men  who  participated  in  them  with  a 
touch  of  the  old  enthusiasm,  although  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury has  passed  since  they  occurred. 

The  spirit  of  the  times  is  shown  in  the  following  ex- 
tracts from  letters  written  to  Judge  Cutler  by  Hon.  Calvary 
Morris  from  Washington : 

^'■February  1,  1840.  From  every  quarter  we  have  the 
most  cheering  intelligence  on  the  subject  of  the  approach- 
ing contest.  I  had  a  long  conversation  the  other  day  with 
Mr.  Talmage,  of  New  York,  who,  you  know,  is  fresh  from 
the  people  of  his  state.     He  says  New  York  will  give  a 


/ 


240  Life  oj  EpJiraim  Cutler. 

larger  majority  for  Harrison  than  she  has  ever  given  for 
any  candidate  for  the  presidency;  and  that,  in  four  months 
from  this  time,  it  will  be  apparent  to  all  parties  that  Gen. 
Harrison  will  be  elected  more  triumphantly  than  Gen. 
Jackson  was  in  1828.  Hon.  Daniel  Webster  says  he  con- 
siders the  matter  as  settled,  that  the  tide  of  public  feeling 
is  so  rapidly  flowing  in  the  right  channel  that  it  can  not 
be  checked  by  all  the  offices  and  money  which  the  admin- 
istratiomhave  to  bestow. 

"  The  Kentucky  delegation  say  that  Harrison  is  going 
to  be  a  stronger  man  in  Kentucky  than  they  could  possi- 
bly have  made  Mr.  Clay  under  any  circumstances. 

"  The  Whig  members  from  Tennessee  seemed  almost  to 
sink  in  despair  when  they  first  heard  of  Harrison's  nomi- 
nation, but  now  they  say  with  one  accord,  that  the  devel- 
opments, in  their  state,  of  public  sentiment,  are  such  as  to 
satisfy  them  that  he  is  the  very  man,  and  that  they  can 
carry  Tennessee  for  him  triumphantly. 

"  Pennsylvania  is  no  longer  doubted.  Ogle,  of  our 
House,  from  that  state,  who  is  a  cool,  calculating,  shrewd 
politician,  says  that  from  the  enthusiasm  and  perfect  hurrah 
which  is  sweeping  over  his  state,  he  shall  not  be  surprised 
if  she  gives  forty  thousand  majority  for  Harrison.  Within 
the  last  few  days  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his  watchman  have 
become  greatly  alarmed  for  Virginia,  and  it  is  said  they 
have  great  reason  to  feel  so.  But  Ohio  is  the  pivot  upon 
which  their  destiny  is  to  turn ;  there  the  mighty  contest  is 
to  take  place,  and  there  you  will  find  them  concentrating 
all  their  forces." 

On  February  28th  Mr.  Morris  writes :  "  The  news  from 
the  State  Convention  of  Ohio  is  most  cheering  to  our 
friends  here  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  I  have  just 
had  a  conversation  with  Wise,  who  returned  this  morning 
from  the  great  Richmond  meeting.  I  asked  him  what 
Virginia  would  do  in  the  coming  contest.  Do  ?  said  he. 
She  will  go  Harrison  and  Tyler  with  a  -devil  of  a  rush ;  no 
mistake  in  Virginia." 

General  Harrison  had  been  a  candidate  in  1836,  opposed 
to  Mr.  Vaii  Buren.     At  that  time  the  Whigs,  for  want  of 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  241 

organization  and  concert  of  action,  were  overwhelmingly 
defeated,  Harrison  receiving  the  vote  of  only  seven  states. 
The  unexpected  and  gratifying  unanimit}''  in  the  action  of 
the  Harrisbnrg  Convention,  put  new  life  into  the  party. 
In  union  there  is  strength — to  this,  and  the  grave  errors 
of  the  Democratic  policy,  the  result  of  the  presidential 
election  of  1840  must  be  attributed.  The  Whi^s  carried 
nineteen  states,  the  Democrats  seven.  Of  the  294  votes 
of  the  electoral  college,  284  were  cast  for  Harrison  and 
60  for  Van  Buren.  The  Whigs  were  jubilant — a  short- 
lived joy,  as  the  lamented  death  of  their  favorite  took 
place  just  one  month  after  his  inauguration  as  President. 
This  political  campaign  was  the  last  in  which  Judge  Cut- 
ler actively  engaged.  It  is  not  unusual  for  persons  of  ad- 
vanced years  to  dwell  much  upon  the  past.  He  had  a 
wide  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  men  and  events  of  his 
own  times.  He  was  fond  of  statistics,  and  of  history  and  its 
teachings.  It  was  his  habit  to  make  notes  of  important 
matters  at  the  time  when  they  occurred.  He  was  often 
consulted  on  doubtful  points  of  our  early  history,  on  which 
he  was  considered  good  authority.  More  than  half  a  cen- 
tury had  passed  since  the  pioneer  band  had  landed  at  Ma- 
rietta, April  7,  1788  ;  and  yet  an  authentic  history  of  Ohio 
was  unwritten. 

Most  of  the  first  settlers  were  laid  at  rest  in  the  rural 
graveyards,  and  with  them  had  perished  the  memory  of 
their  adventures,  their  trials  and  their  heroism.  To  gather 
the  materials  for  correct  history  from  the  few  who  still 
survived,  began  to  arouse  the  attention  of  the  more  intel- 
ligent in  the  community,  prominent  among  whom  was  Dr. 
Samuel  Prescott  Hildreth.  He  addressed  to  Jud^e  Cutler, 
March  31, 1841,  the  following  inquiries: 

"  When  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  a  few  days 
since  at  Colonel  Stone's,  I  mentioned  my  intention  of  pre- 
paring a  history  of  the  county.  It  will  give  me  much 
pleasure  to  receive  a  statement  of  many  of  the  civil  events 
which  fell  under  your  notice  from  the  year  1795  to  1802, 
or  earlier,  if  in  your  power,  especially  in  relation  to  the 
16 


242  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

courts  and  judicial  proceedings.  Who  were  the  first 
Supreme  Judges?  Who  were  the  Justices  of  the  Quarter 
Sessions?  How  were  the  courts  conducted?  Who  were 
the  sherilts  ?  How  extensive  was  the  county  ?  How  often 
did  the  courts  sit  during  the  Indian  War?  Who  were  the 
attorneys  (with  a  brief  biography  of  each  one,  as  far  as 
you  can  recollect)  ?     Where  did  the  first  court  sit? 

"Events  of  the  Indian  War,  any  incidents  in  relation 
thereto,  will  be  valuable.  What  were  the  facts  in  relation 
to  the  proposal  of  some  of  the  iirst  settlers  to  evacuate  the 
country  on  account  of  the  duration  of  the  war?  Facts  in 
relation  to  the  first  proposition  of  making  a  settlement  in 
Ohio?  Who  originated  it,  and  who  were  the  prime  mov- 
ers in  bringing  it  to  pass?  Biographical  notices  of  the 
first  settlers  at  Marietta,  as  to  where  born,  place  of  resi- 
dence, business,  etc.,  especially  of  B.  I.  Gilman  and  his 
father,  R.  J.  Meigs,  P.  Fearing,  E.  Backus,  M.  Backus,  W. 
Sargent,  Eben  Sproat,  C.  Green,  Joseph  Lincoln,  etc. 

"  Any  facts  in  relation  to  the  climate,  as  to  the  change 
in  the  seasons  since  the  first  settlement,  will  be  valuable. 
Diseases  amongst  domestic  animals. 

"When  did  Blennerhasset  come  to  Marietta,  and  any 
facts  in  relation  to  him. 

"  If  you  will  have  the  kindness  to  write  me  out  a  few 
sheets  of  your  reminiscences,  I  shall  be  much  obliged  to 
you.  I  should  also  be  pleased  to  see  the  Journal  of  your 
father,  if  you  would  trust  it  with  me  for  a  few  days." 

Manuscripts  which  have  been  used  and  returned  by  Dr. 
Plildreth  show  that  in  response  to  his  request,  many  valu- 
able facts  were  communicated  for  "  The  Pioneer  History," 
and  much  material  furnished,  from  time  to  time,  for  several 
of  the  biographies  in  "  The  Lives  of  the  Early  Settlers  of 
Ohio,"  prepared  by  Dr.  Hildreth,  and  published  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Ohio  Historical  Society. 

In  1841  the  Marietta  Historical  Association  was  formed 
by  gentlemen  interested  in  preserving  manuscripts,  mem- 
oirs, and  facts  illustrative  of  the  early  history  of  the  place. 
It  was  organized  by  electing  the  following  officers  :  presi- 
dent, Ephraim    Cutler;    vice-president,  Arius  ISTye ;    cor- 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  243 

responding  secretary,  Caleb  Emerson  ;  recording  secretary, 
Arius  S.  Nye;  curators,  William  R.  Putnam,  John  Mills, 
A.  T.  Nye. 

November  24,  1841,  tlie  president  and  corresponding 
secretary  of  the  Association  sent  forth  a  circular  in  these 
words :  "  It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  the  known  and 
acknowledged  importance  of  history  has  heretofore  in- 
duced so  little  eftbrt  for  its  accuracy.  A  classification  of 
history  as  a  branch  of  fictitious  literature  would,  alas  for 
it,  be  not  altogether  false.  We  have  recent  indications  of 
better  things  to  come.  The  formation  of  historical  soci- 
eties, local  as  well  as  general,  is  very  encouraging.  The 
Marietta  Historical  Association  aims  to  establish  a  library, 
cabinet,  and  repository  worthy  of  the  eldest  settlement  in 
Ohio.  The  members  hope  their  zeal  may  prove  not  in- 
commensurate witlr  their  aims.  But  the  efhciency  of  the 
institution  must  depend  much  upon  the  aid  of  others. 
That  aid  is  invoked  in  the  furnishing  of  books,  pamphlets, 
newspapers,  memoirs,  and  manuscripts  illustrative  of 
Western  history,  particularly  of  Ohio,  and  especially  of 
early  settlements.  The  donation  of  books  is  asked  as  a 
contribution  for  public  utility.  Any  book,  publication, 
record,  or  manuscript  will  be  acceptable.  The  association 
hopes  to  do  its  share  in  the  preparation  for  Western  His- 
tory, and  respectfully  suggests  the  formation  every-where 
of  like  associations,  holding  friendly  correspondence,  and 
renderino;  mutual  aid." 

Interesting  replies  to  this  circular  were  received,  some 
of  which  are  found  among  Judge  Cutler's  papers,  while 
others  were  transferred  to  Dr.  Hildreth,  or  remained  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Emerson.  The  attention  of  persons  who 
were  in  possession  of  materials  for  local  history  was  turned 
to  the  necessity  of  putting  them  in  form  to  be  preserved 
for  future  use.  Many  valuable  papers  were  prepared  by 
Mr.  Emerson,  Mr.  A.  T.  Nye,  Colonel  Joseph  Barker,  and 
others,  which  were  printed  in  the  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines of  the  day;  and  Dr.  Hildreth's  two  invaluable  his- 
torical volumes  were  given  to  the  public  during  that 
decade. 


244  Life  of  Eijhraim  Cutler. 

The  editor  of  the  Marietta  Intelligencer  addressed  to 
Judge  Cutler  a  letter,  dated  January  25,  1842 : 

"  I  am  anxious  to  obtain  for  publication  important  facts 
connected  with  the  early  history  and  settlement  of  this 
place  and  vicinity;  and  also  sketches  of  the  lives  and 
characters  of  the  early  settlers.  Every  thing  of  this  kind 
is  useful  and  interesting,  and  I  trust  that  you,  and  the  few 
other  venerable  fathers  3^et  living,  will  be  willing  to  con- 
tribute from  your  store-houses  of  knowledge  such  facts  as 
may  be  of  benefit  to  the  public.  Incidents  in  the  lives  of 
the  early  settlers,  and  anecdotes  respecting  them,  will  be 
peculiarly  interesting,  and  unless  obtained  and  placed  upon 
record  very  soon,  will  be  lost  forever.  ...  I  trust  you 
will  furnish  me  some  articles  for  publication,  and  thus 
serve  the  public,  and  also,  with  great*  respect,  your  friend 
and  servant,  ,  Beman  Gates." 

Some  articles  of  the  character  designated  were  furnished 
for  the  Intelligencer,  then  recently  established,  whose  ac- 
complished editor  spared  no  elFort  to  make  his  paper  a 
success. 

The  following  letter,  which  is  without  date,  was  prob- 
ably received  about  the  same  time  as  the  foregoing : 

"  The  Historical  and  Philosophical  Society  of  Ohio,  at 
their  last  annual  meeting  :  ^Resolved,  That  Ephraim  Cutler 
be  and  hereby  is  requested  to  present  to  the  next  annual 
meeting  of  this  society  a  paper  containing  such  important 
historical  facts  regarding  the  formation  of  the  state  gov- 
ernment, the  settlement  of  this  state,  and  such  interesting 
incidents  thereof  as  his  long  residence,  intimate  acquaint- 
ance and  observation  enable  him  to  communicate.' 

"  Dear  sir,  I  hope  that  you  will  comply  with  the  request 
of  the  society,  and  forward  to  me,  if  you  can  not  be  pres- 
ent, any  paper  you  prepare,  and  it  shall  be  laid  before  the 
society  in  your  name. 

"  Respectfully,  J.  Sullivant, 

''■Corresponding  Secretary." 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  245 

It  is  not  known  that  any  paper  was  sent  to  Mr.  Sulli- 
vant,  but  it  is  believed  that,  at  this  time,  he  reviewed  and 
arranged  his  notes  on  the  territorial  legislature  and  on  the 
convention,  as  they  are  presented  in  this  volume.  His 
ideas  of  the  proper  function  of  an  historical  society  may 
be  gathered  from  a  short  address  to  the  Marietta  Historical 
Association,  found  among  his  papers  : 

"  When  a  body  of  men  associate  together  for  any  purpose, 
curiosity  is  awakened  and  inquiries  are  made  with  a  view 
to  ascertain  the  object  intended  by  such  association.  That 
those  inquiries  should  be  gratified  in  the  fullest  extent  by 
such  an  association  as  ours  professes  to  be,  is  not  only  reas- 
onable, but  absolutely  necessary  to  effect  the  purposes  of 
our  uniting  together.  The  materials  of  history  are  for  a 
time  merely  oral  or  traditionary ;  although  some  portions 
assume  a  more  substantial  form  by  means  of  documents, 
written  immediately,  and  preserved  in  the  public  archives  ; 
yet  very  much  of  incident,  eventually  important  to  be 
known,  and  which  afir'ects  the  destiny  of  thousands,  remains 
for  a  long  time  as  mere  tradition ;  and  very  much  that 
would  enable  future  generations  to  understand  the  motives, 
which,  at  the  time,  induced  the  prime  movers  and  actors 
to  act  as  they  did  in  bringing  about  great  events,  is  forever 
lost. 

"  There  is  another  view  that  may,  with  propriety,  be 
taken  of  this  subject.  It  is,  that  a  duty  rests  somewhere, 
to  preserve  many  facts  too  often  entirely  neglected,  w^hich, 
if  preserved,  and  truly,  without  embellishment,  transmitted 
to  posterity,  would  demonstrate  to  them  as  clearly  and 
vividly,  as  the  sun  ever  shone,  that  there  is  an  infinite  wis- 
dom, an  unseen  hand,  which,  for  good  or  evil,  directs  and 
governs  all  human  affairs.  But  this,  I  humbly  think,  is  a 
theme  suited  to  the  sacred  desk ;  and  I  lament  that  it  is 
there  so  much  overlooked  or  forgotten.  Moses  most  em- 
phatically commanded  God's  chosen  people,  after  rehears- 
ing the  wonders  they  had  witnessed,  to  teach  them  to  their 
children  as  they  were  sitting  in  the  house,  or  walking  by 
the  way,  at  their  lying  down  and  rising  up;  and  to  write 
them  upon  their  door  posts  and  their  gates.     And  is  it  a 


246  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.    * 

matter  to  be  forgotten  that,  some  two  hundred  years  ago, 
a  mere  handful  of  persecuted  men  shoukl  be  driven  from 
their  native  hind,  and  at  the  commencement  of  winter  be 
obliged  to  land  upon  a  rock  in  a  sterile  region,  on  a  forbid- 
ding coast ;  yes,  and  should  be  preserved  from  dangers  and 
increased  in  numbers  so  as  to  be  able  twice,  before  two 
hundred  years  had  elapsed,  to  contend  witli  one  of  the 
mightiest  nations  of  the  earth,  most  successfully  ?  And  is 
it  a  matter  to  be  passed  by  and  forgotten  that  this  vast 
western  valley  in  which  we  live,  was  then,  as  to  its  extent 
and  resources,  a  country  perfectly  unknown  to  the  very 
nations  whose  sons  now  inhabit  it  by  millions? 

"  It  is,  then,  the  object  of  this  association  to  make  an 
effort  to  preserve  what  can  be  collected  of  all  authentic 
records  or  w^ell  established  traditions,  which  may  when 
collected  enable  some  one,  who  has  talents  and  leisure,  to 
give  future  generations  a  true,  philosophical,  and  authentic 
history  of  our  great  state,  and  also  of  the  entire  West, 
as  far  as  our  means  shall  enable  us  to  effect  so  noble  an 
object." 

William  P.  Cutler,  in  a  letter  to  his  father,  dated  at  Co- 
lumbus, January  15, 1845,  writes  :  "  The  Hon.  E.Whittlesey 
has  been  here  sometime,  and  inquires  very  kindly  after  you. 
He  says,  the  State  Historical  Society  are  very  desirous  that 
you  should  prepare  an  article  in  regard  to  the  formation  of 
the  constitution.  He  urged  me  very  much  to  press  it  upon 
your  attention ;  saying  that  he  considered  that  you  were 
the  only  man  who  could  perform  the  duty  properly.  Mr. 
Stoddard,  from  Dayton,  also  joined  with  him  in  the  request. 
^  Mr.  Stoddard  stated  that  he  was  a  member  with  you,  when 
you  made  the  first  effort  for  common  schools." 

A  few  more  letters  received  by  Judge  Cutler  during  the 
latter  years  of  his  life,  are  believed  to  be  of  sufficient  his- 
torical interest  to  justify  their  insertion  here. 

"  Pittsburg,  December  18th,  1842. 
"  C.  Emerson  and  E.  Cutler,  Esqs.: 

^'■Dear  Sirs : — I  have  received  your  joint  favor  some  time 
ago,  but  having  been  much  engaged  in  preparing  for  my 


Life  of  JEj^hraim  Cutler.  247 

long  absence  in  the  legislature  and  in  other  business,  I 
have  from  day  to  day  postponed  writing  to  you  and  ac- 
knowledging the  receipt  of  your  letter.  My  father  occu- 
pied a  somewhat  prominent  position  at  this  place  from 
1791  to  1802,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Cutler  must 
have  become  acquainted  with  him  as  he  passed  through 
this  place.  His  belonging  to  the  same  good  old  Federal 
school  to  which  Mr.  Cutler  belonged  would  no  doubt  tend 
to  draw  them  t02:ether.   . 

"I  believe  I  should  have  shortlv  undertaken  a  historv 
of  the  region  around  the  head  of  the  Ohio,  had  I  not  been 
informed,  some  two  months  back,  that  a  Dr.  Patterson,  of 
this  city,  had  been  engaged  for  some  time  in  collecting 
materials  for  such  a  publication.  I  have  since  become 
acquainted  with  him,  and  finding  that  he  had  made  con- 
siderable progress  in  the  work,  I  concluded  rather  to  aid 
him  by  giving  him  any  information  in  my  power,  than  to 
undertake  a  similar  work.  He  has  issued  proposals  for 
his  publication,  and  will  issue  it  during  the  ensuing  spring. 
He  has  been  very  industrious  in  collecting  materials,  but 
my  acquaintance  with  him  is  not  sufficiently  intimate  to 
enable  me  to  form  a  decided  opinion  as  to  his  fitness  for 
the  work.  My  expectation,  however,  is  that  the  work 
will  be  valuable  for  the  amount  of  matter  collected.  Think 
it  may  be  defective  in  style  and  arrangement. 

"  I  have  never  seen  Pownal's  work,  and  Proud's  His- 
tory is  very  rarely  to  be  seen.  I  have  never  seen  but  two 
or  three  copies. 

"As  to  Mr.  Emerson's  suggestions  about  the  possible  use- 
fulness of  my  services  in  the  legislature,  I  confess  I  can 
see  no  light  ahead — nothing  to  cheer  me  for  my  long  ab- 
sence from  my  own  sweet  home.  The  position  of  our 
state  aftairs  is  difficult  in  the  extreme,  and  the  prospect 
before  us  any  thing  but  cheering.  Even  were  our  legisla- 
tive bodies  as  pure  and  as  firm  and  fearless  as  ever  acted 
together,  they  might  be  perplexed,  but  with  councils  so 
divided  as  ours,  with  an  overwhelming  majority  of  dema- 
gogues, not  competent  even  to  discover  the  correct  path, 
and  even  when  they  see  it,  too  careful  of  their  despicable 


248  Life  of  Ej^hraim  Cutler. 

popularity  to  pursue  honestly  that  course  which  even 
their  stolid  judgments  indicate  darkly,  there  is  scarcely 
ground  left  for  hope. 

"  I  go  there  with  a  resolute  determination  to  pursue  that 
course  which,  upon  calm  and  mature  reflection,  I  may 
judge  to  be  most  conducive  to  the  honor  and  interests  of 
the  state,  without  calculating  its  influence  on  my  own  po- 
litical standing. 

"  I  am,  gentlemen,  very  respectfully,  your  obt.  servt, 

"  Neville  B.  Craig." 

"  PiQUA,  Ohio,  June  19,  1842. 

^'•Dear  Sir : — For  twelve  months  now  last  past,  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  my  time  has  been  spent  among  the 
Wyaudott  Indians  of  Ohio,  on  Sandusky  river,  and  have 
only  recently  returned  to  my  home  and  farm.  I  found 
two  letters  addressed  to  me  from  the  Marietta  Historical 
Association,  asking  for  information  in  relation  to  the  In- 
dians who  once  inhabited  this  country. 

"  In  March,  1841,  I  was  appointed  by  my  old  and  la- 
mented friend,  the  late  President  Harrison,  to  make  an 
attempt  at  purchasing  the  lands  of  the  Wyandotts  in  the 
states  of  Ohio  and  in  Michigan,  and  in  April  of  the  same 
year  I  reached  Upper  Sandusky,  and  commenced  negotia- 
tions. After  encountering  many  difiiculties,  probably 
more  than  has  ever  occurred  in  any  similar  undertaking, 
for  the  Indians  loved  the  land  of  their  birth,  the  beautiful 
plains  of  Sandusky,  I  succeeded  in  executing  a  treaty  with 
the  chiefs  and  councillors,  by  which  they  ceded,  on  the 
17th  of  March,  1842,  all  their  lands  in  Michigan  and  Ohio 
to  the  United  States,  without  any  reserve  whatever,  and 
stipulating  for  the  removal  of  the  nation  to  the  south-west 
of  Missouri  river  in  1843.  The  amount  of  the  land  ceded 
is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  acres  (120,000), 
lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Sandusky  river  in  Ohio,  and  on 
the  bank  of  the  river  Huron  in  Michigan,  both  tracts 
being  surrounded  by  compact  settlements  of  American 
farmers, 

"The  number  of  the  Wyandotts  in  Ohio  and  Michigan, 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  249' 

including  a  snuill  band,  not  quite  an  hundred  souls,  on  the 
English  side  of  the  Detroit  Strait,  and  who  are  all  to  emi- 
grate, will  amount  to  about  eight  hundred  persons  of  all 
ages  and  sexes. 

"  The  Indian  title  to  the  last  acre  owned  by  the  natives 
within  the  limits  of  Ohio  has  been  extinguished  by  the 
late  treaty,  and  the  Wyandotts  are  the  last  of  the  nations- 
who  are  to  leave  us.  Twelve  months  hence  the  red  man 
will  have  taken  his  farewell  forever  of  the  country  which 
was  so  lately  all  his  own.  It  is  a  little  over  forty-two 
years  since  I  first  went  among  the  Wyandotts ;  then  they 
numbered  over  two  thousand,  with  little  or  no  mixture  of 
blood;  now  they  are  reduced  to  eight  hundred,  and  full 
one-half  are  half-breeds  and  quadroons,  and  some  entirely 
white.  Some  white  men  have  wives  of  mixed  blood,  and 
some  quadroons  have  white  women  for  wives. 

"  The  Wyandotts  have  had  the  benefit  of  Christian  in- 
struction for  near  a  century,  first  under  the  Catholics, 
afterward  by  the  Presbyterians;  and  for  the  last  twenty 
years  the  Methodists  have  had  the  exclusive  management 
of  their  school  and  mission.  The  whole  population  at 
Upper  Sandusky  is  650,  of  all  ages  and  sexes  ;  from  100  to 
150  attend  meeting  on  the  Sabbath,  and  about  50  are 
church  members.  Education  and  religion  have  declined. 
My  former  care  of  these  people  ceased  in  April,  1829,  at 
which  time  the  school  and  mission  was  altogether  prosper- 
ous and  encouraging.  Four  hundred  dollars  per  annum  is 
appropriated  by  the  War  Department  toward  the  support 
of  the  Wyandott  school.  The  expense  of  the  mission  is 
provided  by  the  Methodist  Church,  and  is  fully  sustained. 
The  present  missionary,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wheeler,  is  a  very 
worthy,  competent  man,  sustains  himself  well,  attending 
exclusively  to  his  sacred  duties.  In  the  treaty  which  I 
concluded  wdth  these  people,  on  the  17th  of  March,  1842, 
the  U.  S.  engages  to  pay  $500  per  annum  for  the  perpetual 
support  of  a  school  for  the  Wyandott  Nation,  so  soon  as 
they  are  sufiiciently  settled  at  their  new  home  south-west 
of  the  Missouri.  The  first  payment  for  this  purpose  to  be 
made  in  three  years  from  the  date  of  the  treaty.     The 


250  Life  of  Ephrahn   Cutler. 

United  States  also  engaged,  as  they  have  hitherto  done,  to 
support  a  blacksmith  and  an  assistant  blacksmith  for  them, 
and  to  farnish  houses  for  the  blacksmith  and  assistant ; 
with  tools,  iron,  steel,  and  coals,  and  all  things  needful  for 
such  an  establishment.  A  sub-agent  and  interpreter  is 
stipulated  for,  in  order  to  maintain  intercourse  with  the 
government  and  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

"  The  sudden  and  unlooked  for  death  of  President  Har- 
rison was  felt  by  the  Indians  iis  a  great  calamity.  They 
had  promised  themselves  much  from  his  administration. 
They  knew  him  long  and  advantageously,  their  confidence 
in  his  justice  and  humanity  was  unbounded.  Poor  fellows, 
his  death  fell  upon  them  like  the  thunder  which  prostrates 
the  loftiest  oak.  If  the  Indians  had  the  privilege  of  voting 
in  the  last  election  for  President,  not  one  of  them  could  be 
found  to  black-ball  their  old  and  faithful  friend,  Harrison. 

"I  was  with  Gen.  Waj-ne's  army  on  the  Ohio,  as  early 
as  the  beginning  of  1793;  and  in  my  seventeenth  year,  in 
1798,  was  a  clerk  in  the  public  departments  of  the  general 
government;  and  served  in  the  Indian  department  under 
Harrison,  from  1800  down  to  the  close  of  the  last  war. 
The  history  of  the  natives  under  this  government  has  been 
familiar  to  my  mind;  the  result  of  more  than  forty  years 
experience  in  managing  them,  is  that  their  race  must  ]:)er- 
ish  under  the  blighting  effects  of  our  policy.  Congress 
must  give  them  a  country  which  no  circumstances  can 
alienate,  and  a  government  suited  to  their  condition  ;  and 
then  we  shall  begin  to  have  done  what  we  ought  to  have 
done  to  this  unhappy  and  unfortunate  race.  Otherwise  we 
shall  have  a  fearful  account,  as  a  nation,  to  render  to  God, 
and  to  impartial  history. 

"  The  cares  of  my  farm  and  my  children,  deprived  by 
death  of  their  honored  and  lamented  mother,  two  years 
ago,  leaves  me  little  leisure.  I  may  at  a  more  convenient 
time  send  you  some  further  facts  about  the  Indians. 

"  Accept  of  my  best  wishes  for  the  prosperity  and  useful- 
ness of  the  Society  over  which  you  preside  ;  and  for  your- 
self individually,  my  honored  and  respected  colleague  at 


Life  of  JEphraim  Cutler.  251 

Harrisburg,  in    December,  1839,  my    sincere  esteem  and 
affection.     Farewell, 

John  Johnston.* 
"Ephraim  Cutler,  Esq." 

"  CiRCLEViLLE,  January  9,  1843. 

"Tlf^  Dear  Sir: — Tlie  present  generation  seems  to  have 
fore'otten  the  services  of  those  who  laid  the  foundation  on 
which  our  good  institutions  are  built.  They  say  we  have 
had  our  day.  It  was  a  day  of  trial,  labor  and  difficulty ;  of 
self-devotion  and  patriotism.  That  age  has  passed,  and  the 
present  generation  makes  sad  work  of  it,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  party  spirit,  party  legislation,  madness  and  folly. 

"  Youth,  rashness  and  madness  tread  where  wisdom  and 
patriotism  once  presided.  Unless  the  present  generation 
in  Ohio,  elect  better  men  to  office  and  mind  their  ways,  in 
many  respects,  ruin  must  ensue.  Ten  millions  of  our 
public  debt  has  been  created  for  objects  of  little  or  no  value 
to  the  people.  We  can  not  pay  the  interest  much  longer,  or 
if  we  do,  thousands  of  farms  must  be  sold  to  pay  the  taxes. 
A  few  reckless,  unprincipled  men,  rule  the  state  with  a  rod 
of  iron.  The  wisdom  of  Ohio  is  driven  off  the  stage,  which 
is  occupied  by  heedless,  rash,  giddy  and  impudent  young 
men.  This  state  of  things  has  been  introduced  by  unprin- 
cipled demagogues  operating  on  an  ignorant  population, 
who  have  settled  in  the  state  of  late  years. 

"  Our  territory  is  unsurpassed  in  fertility,  our  climate  is 
delicious,  our  hills  are  shaken  by  no  hidden  fires,  our  plains 
have  no  bandits  roving  over  them,  to  way  lay  and  rob  the 

*  The  friendship  between  Col.  Johnston  and  Judge  Cutler  which 
began  at  Harrisburg  in  ISo'.t,  was  an  enduring  one.  A  short  time  be- 
fore the  death  of  the  latter,  a  neighbor  traveling  on  a  steamboat  met 
with  ('ol.  John^ton,  who  sent  by  him  this  note: 

"Col.  John  Johnston,  of  Piqua,  Ohio,  one  of  the  surviving  pioneers 
of  the  North-west,  in  his  79th  year,  sends  his  affectionate  regards,  to  his 
aged  and  venerable  friend  Judge  Cutler,  and  prays  that  his  last  days 
may  be  as  peaceful  and  happy,  as  the  morning  and  noon  of  them  has 
been  honorable  and  useful  to  himself,  and  his  country.  On  board  the 
steamboat  'George  Town,'  Ohio  river,  June  16,  ]8o3." 


252  Life  of  Ephraim   Cutler. 

traveler  as  he  journeys  across  them  ;  and  jet  through  the 
wickedness  of  our  rulers,  we  arc  indeed  a  miserable  people. 

"  Let  us  hope  for  better  times,  worse  we  can  not  expect, 
unless  we  are  doomed  to  destruction. 

"  With  respect  and  esteem  I  am,  dear  sir,  yours  ever, 

"  Caleb  Atwater." 

"  Hon.  Judge  Cutler." 

Mr.  Atwater  was  the  author  of  a  History  of  Ohio. 
In  a  letter  written  in  January,  1837,  he  thus  refers  to  that 
work : 

"I  am  now  and  have  been  long  since  engaged  in  pre- 
paring a  History  of  Ohio.  I  wish  to  begin  to  print  it 
about  the  first  of  May.  I  intend  it  to  be  a  volume  of 
about  400  pages.  I  have  done  you  justice  in  that  volume 
from  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  down  to  this  time. 
There  are  some  particulars  I  wish  to  know.  ^Yhen  and 
where  were  you  born?  Your  education?  When  did  you 
emigrate?  I  wish  to  know  the  early  history  of  Marietta, 
Belpre,  etc.  Any  thing  already  in  print  might  be  for- 
warded to  me." 

Again,  February,  1839,  he  writes :  "You  inquire  about 
my  history.  The  first  edition  was  all  sold,  even  every 
copy  of  it,  within  four  weeks  from  the  time  it  was  bound. 
The  second  edition  is  out,  but  lying  in  a  canal  boat,  frozen 
up  forty  miles  below  me.  Sickness  prevents  my  leaving 
home,  or  this  edition  would  all  be  sold  in  a  few  weeks. 
Should  my  health  be  restored,  with  returning  spring  I 
hope  to  get  out  a  third  edition  early,  and  carry  it  up  the 
Ohio  to  Pittsburg  and  Harrisburg,  where  there  is  a  demand 
for  it.  .  .  .  During  several  years  my  History  of  Ohio 
has  occupied  all  my  time.  It  is  stereotyped,  and  can  be 
published  after  my  death.  I  feel  grateful  for  the  patron- 
age which  it  has  received  from  the  reading  public* 


*Caleb  Atwater-,  born  in  North  Adams,  Massachusetts,  December 
25,1778.  Graduated  at  Williams  College,  1804;  practiced  law;  came 
to  Ohio,  1811;  member  of  the  legislature,  postmaster  at  Circleville,  and 
Indian  Commissioner  under  Jackson.  Author  6f  a  "  History  of  Ohio," 
"  Western  Antiquities,"  and  other  works.  Died  at  Circleville,  Ohio, 
March  13,|1867. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Outler.  253 

"  Detroit,  December  G,  1843. 
"Ephraim  Cutler,  Esq.: 

'■'■Dear  Sir: — I  have  received  your  letter,  and  thank  you 
for  this  mark  of  your  recollection.  It  recalls  many  an 
hour  we  have  passed  pleasantly  together,  and  more  than 
one  manifestation  of  your  friendship  when  I  was  a  young 
man,  needing  the  good  will  of  others  to  aid  my  own  exer- 
tions. I  trust  time  and  circumstances  have  dealt  leniently 
with  you.  I  should  be  happy  to  meet  and  talk  with  you 
about  old  times,  but  am  afraid  we  are  too  far  apart 
for  that.  ISTeither  of  us  can  move  about  as  we  once 
could. 

"  With  respect  to  the  circular,  I  am  happy  to  see  this 
evidence  of  zeal  to  collect  and  record  reminisceiices  of  the 
early  settlement.  I  hope  the  effort  will  not  fail.  I  should 
be  happy  to  assist,  and  perhaps  I  will.  It  is  not  much, 
however,  that  I  kno.w,  and  I  am  every  day  becoming  more 
indolent  and  unfit  for  exertion.  It  is  difficult  to  screw  my 
industry  to  the  sticking  point. 

"  With  much  regard,  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  Respectfully  yours, 

"Leav.  Cass."* 

*  Lewis  Cass,  son  of  Major  Jonathan  Cass,  was  born  at  Exeter,  N. 
H.,  October  9,  1782.  He  came  to  Marietta,  Ohio,  with  his  father's  fam- 
ily in  1800,  where  he  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1802; 
after  which  he  removed  to  Zanesville,  Ohio.  He  married,  in  1806, 
Elizabeth  Spencer,  daughter  of  Dr.  Joseph  Sper.cer,  of  Wood  county, 
Virginia.  He  was  a  Brigadier-General  in  the  war  of  1812,  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Michigan  Territory  in  1813,  and  held  that  office 
eighteen  years,  when  he  was  appointed,  in  1831,  Secretary  of  War  by 
President  Jackson.  In  1836  he  was  sent  as  Minister  to  France,  which 
position  he  resigned  in  1842.  He  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
President  against  General  Taylor,  in  1848,  after  which  he  was  twice 
elected  United  States  Senator  from  Michigan.  In  1857  he  was  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  State  by  President  Buchanan,  but  resigned  his 
office  in  I860.  He  was  a  man  of  great  ability  as  a  scholar,  jurist,  and 
statesman.     He  died  in  Detroit,  Michigan,  January  17,  1866. 


254  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

"Constitution,*  November  10,  1846. 
"A.  G.  Brown,  Esq.: 

'■'■Dear  Sir — Dr.  Hildreth,  who  is  preparing  a  work  for 
the  press,  a  large  portion  of  which  will  he  composed  of 
biographical  sketches  of  the  services,  characters,  &c.,  of 
the  early  settlers  of  the  Ohio  Company  lands.  At  his  re- 
quest I  have  furnished  him  with  that  of  Col.  R.  Oliver, 
Capt.  Wm.  Gray,  Col.  Cushing,  and  several  others.  Last 
week  he  pressed  upon  me  with  earnestness  to  prepare  one 
of  your  excellent  and  honored  father,  which  I  consented 
to  attempt,  if  I  could  obtain  some  information  from  you 
and  vour  brother. 

"Your  father's  history  belongs  to  the  whole  country, 
and  if  facts  are  collected  and  well  told,  it  will  add  an  in- 
terest to  the  interesting  work  which  the  doctor  has  on 
hand.  He  has  a  very  large  portion  of  it  now  ready  for 
the  press,  and  if  this  is  added  it  must  be  immediately  pre- 
pared. 

"I  have  commenced  one  (article),  including  Judge  an(J 
Silas  Bingham,  with  Dr.  Perkins,!  and  propose  to  give  a 
sketch  of  the  history  of  Ames,  its  library,  &c. 

*  "  The  tir.st  post-office  in  \Vari'en  township  was  established  Janu- 
ary 31,  1832,  and  named  Constitution,  in  hoimr  of  the  Iirst  postinnster, 
Judge  Eohraini  Cutler,  who  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  members 
and  latest  survivors  of  the  convention  that  formetl  the  fiist  constitu- 
tion o!  Ohio.  Judge  Cutler  was  postmaster  about  twenty  years." 
(History  of  Washington  County,  p.  6^1.) 

yin  an  article  prepared  by  Judge  Cutb-r  for  Dr.  llildreth's  "  Eai'ly 
Settlers  of  Ohio,"  page  412,  is  the  following  notice  of  the  Binghams 
and  Dr.  Eliphaz  Perkins,  of  Athens: 

"The  Binghams  were  natives  of  Litchfield  county,  Connecticut,  and 
although  quite  young,  were  volunteers  at  the  capiure  vf  TicoiHleroga 
by  Ethan  Allen,  in  1775.  Cajit.  Silas  Bingham  was  with  the  army 
which  invaded  Canada,  and  both  served  most  of  the  time  during  the 
Revolutionary  War.  Judge  Alvin  Bingham  was  a  substantial,  clear- 
headed man,  sober  and  dignified  in  his  manners,  stern  and  uncompro- 
mising in  his  sense  of  right.  Silas  was  full  of  anecdote  and  humor, 
social  and  kind  in  his  feelings,  a.  man  uf  excellent  sense,  and  a  terror 
to  evil  doers,  [fie  was  a  deputy  sheriff.]  The  jjroinptness  with  which 
these  men  acted  in  enloiving  the  laws,  and  in  protecting  the  rights  of 
the  weak,  had  tlie  effect,  early,  to  rid  the  settlement  of  a  large  poi'tion 
of  the  disorderly  population;    and  Athens,  many  years  ago,  establish 


Life  of  Ephrahn  Cutler.  255 

"  I  remember  to  have  seen  a  notice  of  your  father's 
services  from  Gov.  Brooks.  Will  ^^ou  coi»y  it  for  me? 
He  was  invited  to  act  as  aid  to  Gen.  De  Kalb ;  please 
give  me  as  much  of  his  services  as  a  partisan  officer 
as  you  can  collect.  Was  he  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill? 
Did  he,  witli  another  brother,  bring  off  from  that  battle 
his  brother  Jolm  ?  When  did  lie  enter  the  service?  lie 
was  the  tii'st  man  which  entered  the  German  works  so 
gallantly  stormed  by  Brooks  and  Putnam's  regiments  on 
the  7tli  of  October,  1777,  which  decided  the  fate  of  Bur- 
goyne.  Write  as  soon  as  possible.  If  any  thing  of  the 
kind  is  done,  there  is  no  time  to  lose. 

"  Respectfully  yours,  as  ever, 

"Ephraim  Cutler." 

Copy  of  a  statement  of  his  services  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  made  in  or  about  the  year  1818,  by  Capt.  Benjamin 
Brown,  in  support  of  his  application  for  a  pension.  (On 
record  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Athens  county, 
Ohio):. 

"In  February,  1775,  I  joined  in  forming  a  regiment  of 


its  character  as  an  orderly  and  respectable  community,  embracing  as 
mucli  inlelligence  and  refinement  as  any  other  tc.vn  of  equal  size. 
For  this  happy  result  it  was  in  no  small  degree  indebted  to  Dr.  Eli- 
phaz  Perkins.  Few  men  were  better  calculated  to  introduce  a  mdd 
and  refined  state  of  manners.  He  was  a  native  of  Norwich,  Connecti- 
cut; born  in  175.3,  graduated  at  Yale  College,  and  removed  to  Athens 
in  18U0.  when  a  disposition  to  tramide  on  the  laws  i)revailed.  The 
services  of  a  physician  wei-e  greatly  needed  in  the  settlement,  and  his 
ai-rival  was  liailed  with  joy.  By  iiis  attention  to  tlie  sick,  skill  in  his 
profession,  and  by  his  urbanity  and  kindness,  he  at  once  became  popu- 
lar. The  influence  thus  acquired  he  exerted  in  the  most  salutary  and 
unostentatious  manner,  while  he  frowned  upon  every  breach  of  law 
and  decorum.  His  i>\\n  deportment  was  a  bright  and  living  example 
of  purity  and  benevolence.  He  was  truly  a  patron  of  learning.  He 
did  much  to  establish  and  sustain  common  schools  in  that  region.  He 
contributeil  liberally  to  the  ()hio  University,  was  early  appointed  a 
trustee,  and  for  many  years  was  treasurer  of  the  institution.  He  died, 
much  lamented,  on  the  29th  of  April,  1828,  in  the  lively  exercise  of 
that  Christian  faith  he  had  long  professed.  His  descendants  are 
numerous  and  highly  respectable;  seven  of  them  have  graduated  at 
the  Ohio  University." 


256  Life  of  Ejjhraim  Cutler. 

minute  men  in  Hampshire  county  (Massachusetts),  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Barnard.  The  regiment  marched  to 
Concord,  21st  of  April,  under  Lieut.-CoL  Williams,  of 
Northfield.  I  served  in  the  regiment  as  quartermaster. 
At  Cambridge  I  took  a  lieutenant's  commission  in  Captain 
Hugh  Maxwell's  company,  in  Colonel  William  Prescott's 
regiment,  Massachusett's  line,  in  which  I  continued  from 
May  till  the  last  of  December.  I  continued  in  the  same 
regiment  during  the  year  1776,  when  I  engaged  as  captain 
in  Colonel  Michael  Jackson's  regiment,  and  continued  in 
the  same  till  the  latter  part  of  1779,  when  I  resigned  and 
returned  home. 

"I  was  in  the  party  engaged  in  moving  the  stock  from 
Noddle's  Island,  and  burning  the  Diana,  British  packet, 
on  Maiden  Ways,  near  Boston,  in  June,  1775.  I  was  in 
the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  17th  of  June,  1775.  I  was  in 
several  engagements  during  the  evacuation  of  New  York 
Island  in  1776.  I  was  in  the  battle  of  White  Plains 
[where  his  brother,  Pearly  Brown,  was  killed],  and  in 
December  was  present  at  the  taking  of  Hackensack  under 
General  Parsons.  In  1777  I  commanded  a  detachment  at 
the  German  Flats,  and  captured  Walter  Butler  and  his 
party.  I  was  in  the  detachment  sent  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Fort  Stanwix.  I  was  in  the  battles  of  19th  September  and 
7th  October,  that  preceded  the  capture  of  Burgoyne  on 
the  17th.  During  1778  and  1779  I  was  not  in  any  impor- 
tant battle,  but  was  not  off  duty  during  a  single  day  dur- 
ing the  three  preceding  campaigns." 

[The  position  of  aid  to  General  De  Kalb  was  offered  to 
him  at  the  time  he  (De  Kalb)  was  ordered  south  to  North 
Carolina,  where  he  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Guilford. 
He  (Captain  Brown)  was  the  lirst  man  that  entered  the 
Hessian  works  stormed  by  Brooks  and  Putnam's  regi- 
ments on  the  7th  of  October,  1777,  at  Saratoga.] 

"Near  Dresden,  O.,  December  22d,  1846. 
"  Dear  Sir: — I  received  vours  of  the  10th  of  November, 
and  regret  that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  give  you  but  a  very 
slight  history  of  my  father's  life ;  as  I  have  never  spent  six 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  257 

months  at  home  with  hiiu,  since  I  was  fourteen  years  old. 
My  father  (Captain  Josiah  Munro  *)  left  liome  from  Am- 
herst, iSTew  Hampshire,  with  the  first  party  of  the  Ohio 
Company,  and  left  me  with  the  family  when  I  was  about 
fourteen  years  old,  and  I  came  to  Marietta,  I  think  in  1796  ; 
but  there  was  nothing  doing  at  Marietta,  and  as  ray  father 
had  no  use  for  me,  I  went  to  Cincinnati  after  a  few  days' 
stay  at  Marietta.  Since  that  I  have  been  employed  during 
my  father's  lifetime,  almost  constantly  at  a  distance  from 
home. 

'•  I  have  understood  that  there  were  three  brothers  by  the 
name  of  Munro,  my  father's  ancestors,  together  with  several 
others,  emigrated  in  company  from  Scotland  at  a  very  early 
date  ;  and  bought  a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  township  of 
Lexington,  Massachusetts,  near  Boston,  and  settled  in  com- 
pany. I  understood  they  were  from  the  Highlands  in 
Scotland.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  my  father 
was  on  a  farm  in  Peterborough,  ISTew  Hampshire.  The 
battle  of  Lexington  was  fought  on  the  common  immedi- 
ately before  my  grandfather  Munro's  door.  My  father 
left  his  farm,  and  joined  the  service  of  the  colonies  immedi- 
ately after  the  battle  of  Lexington  and  continued  during 
the  war.  I  am  not  able  to  give  the  particulars  of  his  serv- 
ices during  the  war.  I  have  understood  he  was  at  the 
capture  of  Burgoyne  and  Cornwallis. 

"  After  my  father's  death.  Dr.  True  administered  on  his 
estate,  and  all  his  papers  were  given  to  the  doctor.  I  know 
nothing  of  his  commissions,  but  suppose  they  were  among 
the  papers  given  to  Dr.  True.  I  do  not  positively  know 
in  what  in  what  regiment  he  served,  but  think  it  was  com- 
manded by  a  Colonel  Cilly,  but  I  may  be  mistaken  in  the 

*  There  is  in  the  Mound  Cemetery  at  Marietta  a  monument  bearing 
this  inscription:  "Captain  Josiah  Muni'o;  born  at  Lexington,  Massa- 
chusetts, February  12,  1745;  died  at  Marietta,  August,  1801.  Hewasan 
officer  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  became  the  friend  of  Lafayette, 
who  recognized  his  services  in  the  war  by  the  gift  of  a  sword.  He  was 
one  of  the  original  Ohio  Company,  who  landed  at  Marietta,  April  7, 
1788,  and  was  appointed  postmaster  at  Marietta,  1794,  which  office  he 
held  at  the  time  of  his  death." 

17 


258  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

regiment,  I  think,  if  his  papers  could  be  had,  by  looking 
thera  over,  his  commissions  might  be  found,  and  perhaps 
other  useful  information  obtained. 

"  I  am  dear  sir,  very  respectfully,  yours, 

"  Joseph  F.  Munro." 

"West  Union,  August  18,  1847. 
"  Judge  Cutler. 

'■'■Dear  Sir : — It  is  with  sincere  satisfaction  that  I  acknowl- 
edge the  receipt  of  your  very  friendly  letter  of  the  10th 
inst.  It  affords  me  consolation  when  I  reflect  on  the  time 
we  spent  in  our  first  acquaintance,  in  legislating  (as  we  then 
supposed)  for  a  small  number  of  inhabitants,  but  in  fact  it 
was  for  millions.  And  when  we  reflect  on  the  good  our 
labors  have  produced  in  promoting  the  great  ends  of  justice, 
and  the  good  of  the  people  generally,  in  promoting  religion, 
education,  and  internal  improvements;  we  have  a  right  to 
infer  that  the  most  abandoned  infidel  must  acknowledge 
that  an  overruling  Providence  governs  the  affairs  of  nations, 
as  well  as  of  individuals. 

*'  I  have  for  some  time  been  impressed  with  a  belief  that 
the  Lord  has  a  controversy  with  our  nation,  and  that  for  the 
sins  of  this  nation  he  will  scourge  us  sometime  as  a  nation  ; 
the  beghming  of  which,  perhaps  (God  only  knows),  is  the 
promotion  of  the  present  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  unrighteous  war  with  Mexico,  The  numerous  un- 
timely deaths  by  the  sword  and  pestilence  is  a  proof  that 
such  a  chastisement  has  commenced. 

"  I  was  eighty -two  years  of  age  on  the  10th  day  of  July 
last.  I  have  been  engaged  for  the  last  forty-three  years  as 
clerk  for  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  Supreme  Court. 
I  have  now  retired  from  all  public  business,  and  am  "•  seek- 
ing a  better  country  out  of  sight,"  and  hope  to  meet  you, 
my  friend,  there. 

"  Most  respectfully,  I  am  your  friend, 

"  Joseph  Darlinton."  * 

*  Mr.  Darlinton  was  one  of  the  last  five  survivors  of  the  thirty-five 
members  of  the  Ohio  Constitutional  Convention,  1802. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  259 

"  Manchester,  O.,  3Iay  20,  1847. 
"  To  Judge  Cutler  : 

'■'■Dear  Sir — From  our  brief  acquaintance  and  the  lapse 
of  time  since  we  met,  you  may  think  it  extraordinary,  and 
perhaps  impertinent,  that  I  should  trouble  you  in  this  way. 
Well,  my  apology  is  this,  there  are  but  few  of  us  left  (only 
five  I  believe)  of  those  who  met  on  the  iirst  Monday  of 
November,  1802,  in  the  old  stone  court-house  in  Chilli- 
cothe,  on  the  most  important  business  ever  transacted  in 
our  state.  Well,  we  formed  a  constitution  that  has  been 
much  venerated,  for  which  we  ought  to  be  thankful,  if  not 
proud.  It  has  worn  well,  having  existed  now  almost  forty- 
iive  years,  while  in  the  same  period  some  of  our  sister 
states  have  modeled  and  remodeled  their  constitutions. 
Under  the  protection  of  divine  Providence  we  have  pros- 
pered beyond  the  most  sanguine  expectation  of  any  of  us, 
I  suppose.  For  myself,  I  should  have  been,  at  that  time, 
cheered  with  the  thouo;ht  of  the  state  becomins:  in  a  cen- 
tury  what  I  now  behold  it. 

"  In  looking  over  the  Scioto  Gazette,  lately,  I  found  the 
editor  apologizing  that  in  a  previous  number  he  had  stated 
that  there  were  but  two  of  that  convention  living,  but  that 
was  an  error,  as  there  were  four,  and  named  yourself  and 
Messrs.  Morrow,  Reiley,  and  Darlinton.  That  paper  went 
down  to  Portsmouth,  by  way  of  exchange  (I  suppose),  and 
there  the  Clipper  added  my  name,  and  that,  like  the  rest, 
I  was  far  advanced  in  years,  being  about  eighty,  which 
amount  I  numbered  on  the  2d  of  February  last.  But  what 
was  most  pleasing  to  me  in  the  case  was,  that  he  pro- 
nounced us  all  good  Whigs.  Well,  as  a  state,  we  are  pro- 
gressing in  improvements  in  husbandry,  in  the  mechanic 
arts,  and  above  all  in  education.  It  appears  to  be  the 
object  of  all  to  enlighten  the  generation  that  is  to  follow 
us,  as  the  only  means,  under  an  overruling  Providence,  to 
save  our  republic.  As  a  state  we  are  prosperous,  but  as  a 
nation  we  are,  in  my  view,  very  guilty.  We  are  now  en- 
gaged in  a  most  unnatural,  unnecessary,  and  disastrous 
war.  How  it  will  terminate  is  only  known  to  Him  who 
chastises  one  guilty  nation  by  another  equally  guilty.     As 


260  Life  of  LJjyhraim  Cutler. 

to  the  actings  and  doings  of  government,  and  the  distress 
of  our  fellow  mortals  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  your 
knowledge,  perhaps,  exceeds  mine.  .  .  .  Wishing  you 
health  and  comfort,  and  that  your  last  days  may  he  your 
best  days,  I  am  yours, 

"  Most  respectfully, 

"  Israel  Donalson," 

In  a  letter  written  August  1,  1848,  Mr.  Donalson  says : 
"I  think,  at  this  time,  our  constitution  might  he  amended 
so  as  to  comport  better  with  our  present  situation  ;  but  it 
would  not  be  prudent  to  attempt  amendment  under  the 
present  existing  excitement  in  our  state.  To  look  back,  it 
seems  but  a  short  time  since  1802 ;  but  it  has  been  long 
enough  to  consign  thirty  of  our  number,  out  of  thirty -live, 
to  their  last  resting  place,  and  the  few  that  still  live  can 
not  long  remain.  Our  venerable  citizen,  J.  Q.  Adams, 
Andrew  Jackson,  and  the  chief  Black  Hawk  were  born 
in  the  memorable  year  1767,  and  they  also  are  gone.  My 
birthday  was  the  second  of  February  in  that  same  year.  I 
came  to  the  back  part  of  Virginia  in  IS^ovember,  1787 ;  in 
May,  1790, 1  came  down  to  Kentucky,  and  the  1st  of  April, 
1791,  I  came  into  the  then  K.  W.  Territory,  and  on  the 
22d  of  the  month  I  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians, 
while  out  surveying  with  Col.  Massie.  After  little  more 
than  a  week's  captivity  I  escaped.  And  from  that  day  to 
this  my  life  has  been  one  of  turmoil.  I  came  to  the  coun- 
try young,  inexperienced,  without  a  friend  to  counsel  or 
watch  over  me.  I  have  met  with  some  heavy  pecuniary 
losses,  but  I  am  filled  with  gratitude  to  Him  who  has  thus 
far  sustained  me." 

"  Hamilton,  O.,  19^A  April,  1842. 

"Jtf?/  Dear  Friend: — Your  favor  of  the  29th  ultimo  has 
been  received,  and  I  am  really  happy  to  find  that  you  are 
still  in  the  enjoyment  of  health  amongst  the  few  who  are 
now  living  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  country  forming  the 
State  of  Ohio.  I  have  myself,  like  you,  reason  to  be 
thankful  to  the  Great  Disposer  of  all  things  for  the  health 
which  I  am  permitted  to  enjoy. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  261 

"  I  am  pleased  to  see  the  formation  of  societies  for  the 
purpose  of  preserving  from  oblivion  the  facts  and  transac- 
tions which  took  place  amongst  the  settlers  at  an  early 
day.  I  am,  however,  one  of  those  who  never  kept  any 
memorandum  of  occurrences,  and  can  not,  therefore,  give 
any  correct  account  of  the  transactions  and  accidents 
which  took  place  and  happened  at  the  time  of  the  first 
settlement  of  the  couutry. 

"With  respect  to  the  convention  which  framed  the  con- 
stitution of  the  State  of  Ohio,  you  will  recollect  that  we 
had  more  difiiculty  and  disputation  on  the  third  article 
than  on  any  otlier  part.  That  article,  with  other  parts, 
had  been  reported  at  an  early  day  of  the  session,  but  not 
meeting  with  the  views  of  a  majority  of  the  members  it 
had  been  referred  to  special  committees,  who  had  made 
modifications  and  reported ;  the  modifications,  however, 
not  being  satisfactory  could  not  be  adopted.  This  caused 
the  meeting  of  the  few  members  of  whom  you  have  made 
mention.-  We  met,  consulted  on  the  subject,  and  prepared 
a  draft,  which  was  presented  and  finally  adopted,  either  as 
presented,  or  with  very  slight  modifications.  This,  as  well 
as  I  can  now  recollect,  was  the  manner  in  which  the  third 
article  of  the  constitution  was  finally  framed  and  adopted. 

"  When  you  have  leisure,  I  should  be  happy  to  hear  from 
you.  Respectfully,  your  friend, 

"John  Reiley. 

"Ephraim  Cutler,  Esq." 

In  the  winter  of  1842-3,  Judge  Cutler  had  a  claim  before 
the  Ohio  legislature  for  services  rendered  the  state  in  1822, 
when  acting  as  commissoner  of  schools  and  school  lands. 

The  attention  of  the  House  of  Representatives  was  called 
to  this  claim,  by  the  Hon.  George  M.  Woodbridge,  who  at 
that  time  represented  Washington  county  at  the  capital. 
He  announced  the  result  in  a  letter  dated  Columbus,  5th 
February,  1843 : 

"  Dear  Sir : — The  resolution  awarding  you  the  small  pit- 
tance of  $200  for  services  rendered  the  state,  met  with  warm 


262  Life  of  Ejphraim  Cutler. 

opposition  in  the  House,  this  morning,  from  McNulty  and 
Byington.  Chambers,  Robinson,  Ackley  and  myself  sup- 
ported it.     It  passed  by  a  vote  of  41  to  18. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  Geo.  M.  Woodbridge." 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Chambers  wrote  : 

"  House  of  Representatives, 

"  Columbus,  February  2,  1843. 
"  E.  Cutler,  Esq. 

"  Sir  : — Being  on  the  Committee  of  Claims  in  this  branch, 
before  whom  your  claim  for  compensation  of  services  came 
for  consideration,  and  which  resulted  in  recommending  its 
passage  by  the  House,  I  take  occasion  to  inform  you  that 
after  a  sharp  opposition,  and  much  debate,  it  was  passed 
by  a  large  majority.  The  resolution  allows  you  200  dollars 
in  full  for  your  services.  The  resolution  had  passed  the 
Senate.  Wishing  you  health  and  prolonged  existence, 
"  I  am  sir,  your  friend  and  servant, 

"  David  Chambers." 
"  P.  S. — Your  claim  M^as  ably  and  eloquently  supported 
by  your  representative,  Mr.  Woodbridge." 

Mrs.  Sally  (Parker)  Cutler,  who  had  always  fully  sympa- 
thized with  her  husband  in  his  labors  for  the  good  of  the 
public,  and  had  contributed  largely  to  the  happiness  of  his 
life,  was  removed  by  death,  June  30,  1846.  She  was  born 
June  6, 1777,  in  jN"ewburyport,  Massachusetts.  Her  parents, 
William  Parker  and  Mary  (Warner)  Parker,  were  of  good 
!N"ew  England  stock,  pious  and  intelligent.  He  was  pro- 
prietor of  a  share  (1173  acres)  in  the  Ohio  Company's  pur- 
chase, and  left  l!Tewburyport,  with  his  family,  in  the  summer 
of  1788,  to  join  the  Marietta  colony.  When  he  arrived  in 
Western  Pennsylvania,  he  found  little  prospect  of  comfort 
on  the  exposed  frontier.  Being  unwilling  to  subject  his 
delicate  wife  and  helpless  family  to  the  hardships  of  pioneer 
life  in  the  wilderness,  he  purchased  a  small  farm  in  the 
Forks  of  Y^ough,  where  they  remained  twelve  years,  until 
peace  and  safety  were  assured.     In  1800,  they  removed  to 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  263 

his  land  on  Leading  creek,  Meigs  county,  Ohio,  where  Mrs. 
Cutler  resided  at  the  time  of  her  marriage  in  1808.* 

In  early  life,  she  had  the  advantage  of  good  schools. 
Her  love  of  reading  and  fine  literary  taste  led  to  constant 
intellectual  advancement.  She  was  remarkable  for  quick- 
ness and  clearness  of  perception,  readiness  in  emergencies, 
promptness  in  action,  and  sound  common  sense.  She  was 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  adorned  her  pro- 
fession by  humble  and  sincere  piety.  She  was  kind  and 
liberal  to  the  poor.  Her  influence  was  potent  for  good  in 
the  community  where  she  lived,  and  was  especially  useful 
and  helpful  to  young  persons  of  her  own  sex. 

She  joined  with  her  husband  in  the  exercise  of  a  cheerful 
and  graceful  hospitality;  to  which  her  attractive  person 
and  manners,  her  agreeable  conversation  and  sprightly  wit, 
gave  an  added  charm.  She  not  only  superintended  and 
participated  the  labors  of  her  large  household,  but  by  her 
systematic  methods  found  time  to  direct,  in  their  early  years, 
the  studies  and  hear  the  recitations  other  children,  listen- 
ing to  the  declamations  of  her  sons  and  by  her  suggestions 
helping  to  train  them  as  speakers.  She  was  careful  to  in- 
culcate correct  principles,  purity  of  life  and  heart,  and  that 
"  fear  of  the  Lord  which  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom." 
She  gave  to  them  ungrudgingly  the  best  years  of  her  life, 
and  when  tliey  went  forth  into  the  world  they  felt  her  in- 
fluence, like  a  presence,  go  with  them.  Well,  may  her 
children  "  arise  up  and  call  her  blessed." 
•  A  free  hospitality  characterized  the  early  settlers  of 
Ohio,  and  in  few  houses  was  its  exercise  more  constant 
than  at  the  Cutler  homestead.  ITew  Englanders  who  were 
proprietors  of  shares  in  the  Ohio  Company,  or  who  came 


*  Ephraim  and  Sally  Parker  Cutler  had  five  children: 

1st.  Sarah  Cutler,  born  April  17,  1809;  married  Hon.  Ilenry  Dawes. 
She  is  still  living  at  Marietta,  Ohio. 

2d.  Manasseh  Cutler,  born  July  25,  1810  ;  died  October  2,  1822. 

3d.  William  P.uker  Cutler,  born  July  I L',  1812;  died  Ai)ril  11,  1889. 

4th.   Julia  Perkins  Cutler,  born  January  24,  1814. 

5th.  Clarissa  Warner  Cutler,  born  October  27,  1816;  married  Rev. 
James  S.  Walton.     Died  July  8,  1874. 


264  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

out  to  see  the  country,  rested  here  from  the  fatigues  of 
the  journey  sometimes  for  weeks,  and  many  letters,  now 
yellow  with  age,  speak  with  gratitude  of  the  kindness 
shown  the  writers  when  "  strangers  in  a  strange  land." 

In  his  Western  home  Judge  Cutler  found  himself  in  a 
community  largely  composed  of  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  Revolutionary  war.  These  veterans  were  among  his 
best  friends,  and  were  always  welcome  and  honored  guests. 
Here  the  brave  old  Commodore  Whipple  told  to  apprecia- 
tive hearers  his  gallant  exploits  upon  the  sea  ;  and  here  St. 
Clair,  Putnam,  Oliver,  Bradford,  and  scores  of  others  often 
came  for  friendlv  intercourse,  and  "  to  fig-ht  their  battles 
over  again."  A  soldier  never  left  his  door  uncheered  by 
his  courtesy,  or,  if  in  need,  unaided  by  his  liberality. 
Among  the  many  visitors  of  later  years  were  Paul  Fearing, 
Samuel  F.  Vinton,  W.  R.  Putnam,  and  Caleb  Emerson, 
all  admirable  talkers,  the  latter  a  man  of  leisure  who  fre- 
quently spent  a  week  there  discussing  the  "  old  and  the 
new  "  with  his  friend  Cutler,  in  a  way  most  satisfactory  to 
themselves,  and  instructive  and  delightful  to  those  whose 
privilege  it  was  to  listen,  for  as  thinkers  and  conversation- 
alists they  were  unique. 

He  was  free  from  that  envy  and  selfiishness  which  re- 
gards the  gain  of  others  as  a  personal  loss.  He  rejoiced  in 
the  prosperity  and  advancement  of  his  neighbors,  and 
loved  to  gather  them  about  him  socially.  And  on  Thanks- 
giving Day  all  his  children  and  grandchildren  were  ex- 
pected to  appear  at  his  table  and  enjoy  with  him  that  old- 
time  festival.  He  treated  women  with  sincere  and  respect- 
ful courtesy,  and  children  with  peculiar  tenderness.  In 
his  own  home  his  presence  was  always  a  benediction,  and 
there  his  life  seemed  the  most  satisfactory  and  complete ; 
for  he  was  a  thoughtful  and  appreciative  busband,  and  the 
kindest  and  best  of  fathers. 

Havinof  carved  out  of  the  forests  a  farm  for  himself  at 
Waterford,  at  Ames,  and  at  Warren,  he  knew  well  the 
necessities  and  privations  of  pioneer  life,  and  his  helpful 
hand  has  aided  many  a  worthy,  industrious  man  to  make 
a  comfortable  home  in  the  wilderness.     Not  less  than  two 


Life  of  Ephraini   Cutler.  265 

hundred  families  were  established  on  lands  wliicli  lie  con- 
veyed to  them,  waiting  their  convenience,  sometimes  for 
years,  to  make  him  payment  for  their  farms. 

He  seemed  to  know  and  appreciate  every  man's  difficul- 
ties, and  as  far  as  practicable  to  remove  them.  Some  were 
furnished  with  needed  provisions  or  implements,  some 
with  a  coAv,  that  the  little  ones  might  not  lack  proper 
food ;  others  were  provided  with  a  team,  in  order  that 
their  land  might  be  cleared,  fenced,  or  plowed  in  season 
for  a  crop,  the  seed  for  which  was  not  unfrequently  also 
supplied.  He  was  a  safe  and  judicious  counselor.  His 
advice  and  aid  were  often  sought  by  widows  and  orphans 
in  their  perplexities,  and  was  freely  given.  These  and 
similar  acts  of  kindness  were  many  times  recalled  and 
gratefully  acknowledged  after  he  was  sleeping  in  the  dust. 
His  readiness  to  help  those  who  needed  help  sometimes 
occasioned  him  serious  loss,  for  he  was  permitted  to  pay 
debts  for  which  he  was  security  to  an  extent  really  embar- 
rassing ;  and  yet,  after  all  his  financial  difficulties,  at  the 
close  of  life  he  was  entirely  free  from  debt. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler  was  a  man  of  rare  attain- 
ments in  science  and  literature,  and  of  high  social  position. 
It  would  not  be  strange  if  his  son  Ephraim  sometimes 
thought  with  regret  of  the  privileges  of  his  father's 
house,  foregone  by  his  early  transfer  to  the  more  humble 
home  of  his  grandfather,  Hezekiah  Cutler,  of  Ivillingly. 
It  may  be  doubted,  however,  if  in  moral  and  physical 
training,  and  in  true  manliness,  he  suffered  any  real  loss; 
for  it  was  from  this  man  of  strong  intellect  and  sterling 
integrity  that  he  received  his  first  views  of  men  and  life ; 
and  learned  that  reverential  regard  for  the  patriots  of  the 
Revolution,  and  that  ardent  love  of  countrv,  which  at  all 
times  marked  his  career.  Entering  upon  the  active  duties 
of  citizenship  soon  after  the  close  of  that  eventful  period, 
he  adopted  the  principles  of  Washington,  Adams,  and 
their  compeers,  and  being  positive  and  earnest  in  his  con- 
victions, never  swerved  from  them  upon  questions  of 
national  policy. 

It  has  been  said  of  him  that  "  he  was  one  of  the  busy 


266  Life  of  Ephraim  Cntler. 

workers,  who  at  the  riglit  time,  and  in  his  appointed 
sphere,  dug  deep,  and  laid  broad  the  foundations  of  many 
generations,"^-  His  successful  effort  in  the  constitutional 
convention  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  state,  is  thus 
noticed  by  another  writer  :  f  "The  greatest  service  ren- 
dered bv  Judge  Catler  in  the  convention  was  his  deter- 
mined  opposition  to  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the 
State  of  Ohio  ;  for,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  a  strong  effort 
was  made  to  fasten  this  system  on  the  state,  notwithstand- 
ing the  language  and  solemn  compact  of  the  ordinance  of 
1787.  .  .  .  Judge  Cutler  stood  in  the  breach,  and  with 
all  his  power  and  great  persistency  battled  against  this 
movement.  His  friends  rallied  around  him  ;  he  was  finally 
successful,  and  to  Ephraim  Cutler,  more  than  to  any  other 
man,  posterity  is  indebted  for  shutting  and  barring  the 
doors  against  the  introduction  into  Ohio  of  the  monstrous 
system  of  African  slavery."  Afterward,  in  the  state  legis- 
lature, he  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  friends  of 
common  schools.  Israel  Ward  Andrev/s,  LL.D.,  president 
of  Marietta  College,  in  his  Centennial  Plistorical  Address, 
1876,  says :  "Among  the  public  men  to  whom  the  cause  of 
popular  education  in  Ohio  was  greatly  indebted  in  the  early 
history  of  the  state,  none  deserve  niore  prominence  than 
Judge  Ephraim  Cutler."  Referring  to  his  labors  in  forming 
a  new  revenue  system  for  the  state,  providing  that  property 
should  be  taxed  according  to  its  true  value,  which  was 
established  in  1825;  Dr.  Andrews  adds :  "To  him,  more 
than  to  any  other,  are  we  indebted  for  the  law  then  en- 
acted. The  language  of  his  contemporaries  clearly  shows 
that  he  was  regarded  as  the  author." 

Being  solicitous  for  the  proper  application  of  the  new 
tax  law,  he  accepted,  in  1825,  the  appointment  of  assessor 
for  Washington  county,  and  gave  to  the  laborious  duties 
of  the  position  his  personal  attention.  He  also  held  con- 
sultation with  the  assessors  of  other  counties  in  the  Ohio 


*  Hist,  Washington,  Co.,  O.,  p.  472. 

-j-  Walker's  History  of  Athens  county,  0  ,  pp   390-391. 


Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler.  267 

Company's  Purchase,  witli  a  view  to  secure  just  and 
uniform  assessments. 

For  more  than  tliirty  years  he  held  continuously  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  until  he  declined  are-elec- 
tion ;  and  for  an  equal  period  he  was  a  trustee  of  the 
Ohio  University,  to  which  he  gave  an  intelligent  and 
faithful  service. 

Any  sketch  of  the  life  of  Ephraim  Cutler  which  left 
out  the  relisrious  element  in  his  character,  would  be  incom- 
plete.  His  whole  life  testifies  that  he  was  a  liberty-loving 
and  God-fearing  man,  worthy  of  his  Puritan  ancestry. 

The  formation  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Warren 
township  was  mainly  due  to  his  influence.  This  church 
was  constituted  February  23,  1828,  by  the  Rev.  Augustus 
Pomeroy,  a  home  missionary,  and  the  Rev.  Luther  G. 
Bingham,  representing  Athens  Presbytery.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  Judge  Cutler  made  a  public  profession  of  re- 
ligion. The  letter,  which  he  addressed  to  the  church, 
giving  his  belief,  experience  and  views  of  duty,  is  as 
follows : 

"  To  THE  Church  of  Christ  now  formkd  in  Warren  : 

"  Having  for  some  time  earnestly  prayed  that  a  church 
might  be  established  in  this  place,  which  is  now  accom- 
plished, I,  with  a  humbling  sense  of  my  own  unworthi- 
ness,  ask  to  be  admitted  as  one  of  your  members,  ac- 
knowledging to  you,  and  to  the  Father  of  our  Lord,  Jesus 
Christ,  that  I  am  unworthy  to  be  one  of  the  least  in  His 
visible  church.  Through  a  life  filled  with  demonstrations 
of  the  constant  care  and  sustaining  power  of  Almighty 
God,  I  have  been  visited  by  His  Holy  Spirit  at  various 
times,  convinced  of  the  heinous  nature  of  sin,  and  of  the 
absolute  need  of  a  Savior — such  an  one  as  is  clearly  de- 
scribed and  oflered  to  us  in  the  gospel ;  of  the  utter 
depravity  of  our  nature,  and  total  inability  of  meriting 
my  own  salvation,  or  living  agreeably  to  the  requirements 
of  a  pure  and  holy  God,  who  searches  the  heart  and 
knows  the  most  secret  thoughts  of  man,  and  can  not  look 
upon  iniquity  with  complacency. 


268  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

"Early  in  life,  I  believe  at  about  the  age  of  fifteen  or 
sixteen  years,  I  had  very  deep  convictions  of  sin,  and  had 
manifestations  of  the  forgiving  goodness  of  God  which 
almost  overcame  me.  I  then  formed  resolutions  which, 
alas,  I  did  not  fulfill;  but  this  time  of  His  goodness  has 
been  through  life  an  anchor  to  my  soul  in  temptation  and 
difiiculties,  and  a  monitor  to  call  me  back  to  repentance. 
I  confess  with  deep  contrition  that  I  have  run  into  many 
sins,  and  behaved  unworthily  as  a  Christian,  for  which  I 
hope  I  have  hunlbly  and  sincerel}^  repented,  and  asked 
forgiveness,  depending  and  relying  alone  on  the  atone- 
ment made  for  sin  by  the  dying  sufierings  and  blood  of 
our  glorious  Eedeemer. 

"  I  also  acknowledge  that  I  have  been  greatly  sinful  in 
not  coming  forth  and  declaring  myself  on  the  Lord's  side, 
having  experienced  the  refreshing  infiuence  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  on  my  heart  in  hearing  the  preaching  of  His  word 
at  many  times.  I  may  mention  particularly,  under  the 
preaching  of  the  Rev.  Jacob  Lindley,  of  Athens,  and  Rev. 
Dr.  Hoge,  of  Columbus;  and  also  iu  an  extraordinary 
manner  by  a  sermon  preached  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davis,  of 
Salem,  Pennsylvania,  from  Jude,  14,  15,  and  16  verses, 
wherein  he  proved  the  propriety,  the  justice  and  necessity 
of  God's  punishing  such  sinners  as  are  described  in  that 
text.  I  was  brought  to  feel  as  Avell  as  to  see,  that  a  pure 
and  a  just  God,  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil, 
and  can  not  look  upon  iniquity,  must  regard  with  disap- 
probation such  an  one  as  I  felt  myself  to  be.  I  fek  that 
my  best  devotions  and  best  actions  were  tinctured  with 
selfishness,  murmurings,  and  complainings. 

"Unworthy  as  I  confess  myself  to  be,  I  feel  it  a  duty 
incumbent  on  me  to  offer  myself  to  become  a  member  of 
Christ's  visible  church,  with  a  confident  hope  that  He  will 
intercede  with  the  Father  for  the  forgiveness  of  my  sins, 
and  relying  alone  upon  the  richness  of  free  grace  to  make 
atonement  for  them,  believing  that  none  can  come  unto 
Christ  unless  the  Father  draw  them;  yet  that  all  who  hear 
the  gospel  have  a  free  choice  to  accept  the  Savior  or  re- 
fuse him. 


Life  of  Ei^hraim  Cutler.  269 

"  With  great  diffidence,  and  some  degree  of  humility,  I 
have  drawn  up  this  sketch  of  my  feelings,  belief,  and  de- 
sires, earnestly  soliciting  of  my  Christian  friends  a  remem- 
brance at  the  throne  of  grace,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
perfect  in  me  any  good  work  that  may  be  begun,. and  that 
I  may  so  walk  as  to  honor  my  Redeemer,  and  perform 
every  Christian  duty.  The  fear  of  failing  in  these  has 
hitherto  prevented  my  publicly  professing  my  attachment 
to  the  cause  of  Christ.  Ephraim  Cutler." 

A  few  years  later  he  was  chosen  a  ruling  elder,  and,  by 
his  Christian  example  and  prudent  counsel,  sought  to  pro- 
mote the  spiritual  and  temporal  interests  of  the  church. 
He  was  active  in  the  Sabbath-school,  weekly  prayer  meet- 
ings, and  monthly  concerts  of  prayer.  He  gave  liberally 
to  the  Bible  society  and  to  the  cause  of  Christian  missions 
at  home  and  abroad.  He  contributed  accordina:  to  his 
means  to  erect  a  church  building,  and  to  sustain  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  in  it.  He  was  twice  a  delegate  to 
represent  the  Presbytery  of  Athens  in  the  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly,  once  at  Pittsburg,  in  1835,  and  again 
at  Philadelphia,  in  1837.  It  was  truthfully  said  of  him, 
"  he  served  the  church,  as  he  ever  did  the  state,  with  stead- 
fast fidelity. " 

He  was  an  early  and  earnest  advocate  of  the  temperance 
reform,  which  began  about  1830,  both  by  example  and 
precept.  He  banished  all  intoxicating  drinks  from  his 
house  and  farm,  and,  in  private  and  public,  urged  upon 
others  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  total  abstinence. 

His  life  had  been  an  active  one,  and  with  a  naturally 
good  constitution  and  temperate  habits,  his  health  was  al- 
most uniformly  excellent.  Until  nearly  four  score  years 
of  age,  he  could  mount  his  horse  from  the  ground,  and  in 
his  eighty-sixth  year,  he  was  able  to  ride,  on  horse-back, 
in  a  single  day  from  his  home  in  "Warren,  some  twenty- 
seven  miles,  to  his  farm  in  Ames.  He  was  strongly  built, 
about  six  feet  in  height,  with  a  well  developed  head  and 
deep  grey  eyes.  Except  his  hearing,  his  faculties  were  re- 
markably well  preserved,  and  to  the  last  his  strong  intel- 


270  Life  of  Ephraim  Cutler. 

lect  and  sound  judgment  were  undimmed.  Eelieved  by 
his  son  of  all  irksome  cares,  he  spent  much  time  in  his 
favorite  occupation  of  reading  his  chosen  books  and  the 
newspapers,  for  he  never  lost  his  interest  in  the  world's 
progress;  thus  surrounded  by  his  family  and  friends,  his 
was  a  beautiful  example  of  a  peaceful,  happy  old  age. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1853,  while  riding  to  Marietta,  his 
horse  stumbled  and  threw  him  to  the  ground ;  although 
stunned  at  first,  he,  for  a  time,  thought  little  of  the  occur- 
rence, but  it  soon  became  evident  that  he  had  received 
serious  internal  injury.  During  the  four  mouths  of  in- 
validism succeeding  the  accident,  he  was  cheerful  and 
patient,  receiving  his  friends  with  his  usual  courtesy,  often 
expressing  to  them  his  unwavering  trust  in  the  goodness 
of  God,  and  bearing  testimon}'  to  the  iaithfulness  of  Him 
"who  had  been  with  him  in  six  troubles  and  in  the 
seventh  had  not  forsaken  him."  He  had 'an  abiding  faith 
in  the  efficacy  of  the  gospel,  and  in  its  final  triumph  on 
the  earth.  July  8,  1853,  the  end  came;  "he  was  not,  for 
God  took  him." 

His  funeral  discourse  was  preached  by  the  late  Professor 
Rev.  E.  B.  Andrews,  of  Marietta  College,  who,  at  that  time, 
ministered  to  the  church  in  Warren. 

Without  reproducing  letters  of  condolence,  it  may  not 
be  improper  to  record  the  following  editorial  notice  from 
the  Ohio  State  Journal:  "We  knew  Judge  Cutler  inti- 
mately. A  matter  of  business  brought  us  together  in 
1841,  and  we  have  spent  many  pleasant  days  at  his  resi- 
dence on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  a  few  miles  below  Mari- 
etta. His  family  was  one  of  the  purest,  most  amiable,  and 
intelligent  in  the  land.  Hon.  William  P.  Cutler,  formerly 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  now  presi- 
dent of  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad  Company,  is 
his  son,  and  for  many  years  has  resided  at  the  homestead 
on  the  Ohio.  Judo;e  Cutler  belonged  to  that  class  of 
strictly  upright,  honest,  and  true  men,  of  whom  the  pio- 
neers of  this  state  afford  so  many  noble  examples.  He  was 
peculiarly  blessed  in  his  children.  We  have  never  seen  a 
family  that  were  united  by  stronger  bonds  of  affection  and 


Life  of  Ejphraim.  Cutler.  271 

reo-ard.      His  house  was  the  home  of  comfort.      Books, 


magazines,  papers,  all  the  appliances  of  the  best  cultivated 
taste  Avere  in  abundance  and  were  kept  for  use — not  for 
show.  He  died  at  a  ripe  old  age,  and  his  memory  will 
long  be  cherished  by  those  who  knew  his  virtues." 

The  editor  of  the  Marietta  Intelligencer  closed  an  ap- 
preciative obituary  notice  wnth  these  w^ords  :  "  In  every 
sphere  and  relation  of  life,  Judge  Cutler  was  a  useful  man. 
He  was  an  upright  judge,  an  intelligent  legislator,  a  pub- 
lic-spirited citizen,  a  good  neighbor,  an  affectionate  father, 
a  sincere  Christian,  and  an  honest,  true  man." 


272  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  3Iajor  Jervis  Cutler. 


MAJOR  JERVIS  CUTLER. 

Major  Jervis  Cutler,  second  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Manasseli 
and  Mary  (Balch)  Cutler,  was  born  in  Edgartown,  Mar- 
tha's Vineyard,  September  19,  1768.  His  father  re- 
moved to  Ipswich  Hamlet  (afterward  Hamilton),  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1771,  and  took  charge  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  that  place.  It  was  in  that  pleasant  rural  vil- 
lage that  Jervis  Cutler  spent  his  boyhood  and  youth,  par- 
ticipating in  its  educational  advantages,  until  Dr.  Cutler 
established  at  his  own  home,  in  1782,  a  private  boarding 
school  for  bovs.  Althouo;h  brio-ht,  with  an  active,  in- 
quiring  mind,  he  was  not  a  close  student,  and,  conse- 
quently, the  boon' of  a  career  at  Harvard  College  was 
reserved  for  a  younger  brother,  and  he  was  sent,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  years,  to  be  initiated  into  the  business  of 
commercial  life  under  the  auspices  of  his  father's  friend, 
Captain  David  Pearce.  of  Gloucester.  In  the  course  of 
his  novitiate.  Captain  Pearce  sent  him  to  Europe,  and  he 
visited  France  and  Denmark,  greatly  enjoying  all  that  he 
saw. 

In  the  meantime  a  new  project  began  to  interest  the 
.  public,  more  especially  those  who  after  years  of  hard  serv- 
ice in  the  tented  field  had  now  returned  to  private  life 
w^ith  reduced  fortunes  and  shattered  health.  The  plan,  to 
which  thev  were  driven  bv  their  trials  and  necessities, 
was  to  purchase  land  of  the  government,  upon  which 
they  could  colonize  together,  and  begin  life  anew.  This 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  Ohio  Company  in  1786.  Dr. 
Cutler  was  greatly  interested  in  this  movement,  and  his 
associates  manife^ed  their  confidence  in  his  integrity  and 
good  judgment  by  making  him  one  of  the  three  directors 
of  the  company,  and  commissioning  him  to  negotiate 
with  Congress  for  the  land  for  the  proposed  settlement. 
With  great  wisdom  and  skill,  he  accomplished  this  busi- 
ness to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  associates.     In  the 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Major  Jervis  Cutler.  273 

autumn  of  1787  preparations  commenced  for  taking  pos- 
session of  the  purchased  domain,  which  consisted  of 
1,500,000  acres  of  land  in  the  ^orth-west  Territory, 

In  the  general  interest  this  movement  excited,  the  young 
mercantile  clerk  fully  shared.  He  had  seen  enough  of  the 
world  to  wish  to  see  more.  When  the  first  detachment  of 
the  forty-eight  original  pioneers  of  Ohio  left  Dr.  Cutler's 
door  on  that  bright  winter  morning,  December  3, 1787,  we 
are  hot  surprised  to  tind  of  the  number  Jervis  Cutler,  now 
nineteen  years  old,  with  his  relative,  Samuel  Cushing,  and 
other  "  neighbor  lads,"  starting,  with  elastic  steps  and  high 
hopes,  on  the  long  march  to  the  Muskingum.  Dr.  Cutler 
then  expected  at  no  distant  day  to  join  the  colony.  In  a 
letter  of  this  date  he  writes  to  General  Rufus  Putnam,  the 
superintendent  of  affairs  :  "  My  son  is  gone  on  in  the  com- 
pany, and  I  beg  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  pay  some  atten- 
tion to  him,  and  give  him  such  counsel  and  advice  as  you 
would  your  own.  I  feel  a  satisfaction  in  the  reflection 
that  he  is  under  your  care." 

History  records  the  hardships  of  that  wearisome  march 
over  bad  roads  and  snow-covered  mountains,  and  the 
tedious  delays  from  inclement  weather,  and  other  misfor- 
tunes, but  at  length  the  goal  was  reached,  April  7,  1788, 
and  Jervis  Cutler  was  the  lirst  of  that  band  of  pioneers  to 
leap  on  shore  as  the  Union  galley  neared  the  land.  "  He 
was  often  heard  to  say  that  he  cut  the  first  tree  to  make 
a  clearing  for  a  white  habitation  in  the  new  settlement." 

After  two  or  three  months  spent  at  the  Muskingum,  he 
went  back  to  Western  Pennsylvania,  where  a  number  of 
!N^ew  England  families,  some  of  them  from  his  father's  parish, 
were  temporarily  located,  awaiting  the  establishment  of  the 
pioneer  colony.  Here  he  engaged  in  teaching  school,  and 
was  thus  employed  when  Dr.  Cutler  came  through  on  his 
way  to  visit  Marietta,  the  new  settlement  on  the  Ohio 
Company's  land.  At  the  close  of  his  school  he  returned 
to  Marietta,  and  in  the  spring  of  1789  joined  the  associa- 
tion who  commenced  the  settlement  at  Waterford,  twenty 
miles  up  the  Muskingum.  His  lot  of  land  was  on  the  fer- 
18 


274  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Major  Jervis  Cutler. 

tile  peninsula  west  of  the  river,  where  Major  Dean  Tyler 
erected  a  blocKi-house  for  the  security  of  himself  and  those 
who  were  located  near  him.  John  Gardner,  one  of  the 
associates,  drew  a  lot  adjoining  that  of  Jervis  Cutler,  and 
they  assisted  each  other  in  clearing  their  land,  and  had 
made  favorable  progress,  when  one  day,  while  Cutler  was 
absent  at  Marietta,  Gardner  w^as  seized  by  a  party  of  hos- 
tile Shawuees,  bound,  and  hurried  into  captivity,  but  by 
adroitness  and  steadiness  of  purpose  he  escaped  from  liis 
captors,  and  after  four  days  absence  got  back  the  same  time 
that  Cutler  returned  from  Marietta.  The  next  morning  they 
resumed  their  woodland  labors.  A  lady  who  came  that 
day  to  the  settlement,  a  girl  of  seventeen,  described  Jervis 
Cutler  as  being  at  that  time  "  tall,  erect,  graceful  in  his 
motions,  and  as  handsome  a  man  as  I  ever  set  my  eyes  on." 

The  following  autumn,  from  curiosity  to  see  the  coun- 
try, he  joined  a  party  of  Ohio  Company's  surveyors,  at  work 
between  the  Big  Hockhocking  river  and  Raccoon  creek. 
This  party  consisted  of  twelve  men.  They  employed 
Benoni  Hurlburt,  a  hunter  and  trapper,  to  supply  them 
with  meat.  He  was  brought  up  a  backwoodsman  in 
Western  Pennsylvania.  Clad  completely  in  dressed  deer- 
skin, he  was  a  bold  and  fearless  ranger  of  the  w^oods,  and 
well  acquainted  with  savage  warfare ;  he  often  said  "  he 
was  not  afraid  of  any  Indian,"  and  yet  two  years  later  he 
fell  by  their  hand. 

While  out  with  this  party  Jervis  Cutler  was  lost  in  the 
woods,  of  which  Dr.  Hildreth  gives  a  detailed  account  in 
his  "  Early  Settlers  of  Ohio,"  taken  from  his  own  lips  a 
few  years  before  his  death.  It  illustrates  one  class  of  dan- 
gers to  which  all  of  the  pioneers  were  exposed.  He  was 
not  one  of  the  regular  hands  of  the  surveyors,  but  being 
fond  of  hunting  and  expert  wnth  the  rifle,  went  out  one 
morning  with  Hurlburt  in  seach  of  game.  He  became 
separated  from  his  companion,  and  not  being  accustomed 
to  the  woods,  could  not  regain  the  trail.  Toward  night 
he  shot  and  wounded  a  bear,  which  escaped  him.  Finding 
himself  actually  lost,  he  fired  his  gun  several  times  in  the 
vain  hope  of  hearing  a  response  from  the  party.     Xight 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  3Iojor  Jercis  Cutler.  275 

coming  on,  he  built  a  lire  at  the  roots  of  a  dry  beech  tree, 
and  being  very  tired,  was  soon  asleep.  The  lire  ran  up 
the  tree,  and  a  piece  of  ignited  wood  fell  on  his  clothing 
and  burned  him  severely  before  he  could  extinguish  the 
flame.  By  davli2:ht  the  next  morning  he  started  east  in 
hopes  of  reaching  the  Ilockhocking,  which  he  knew  was 
in  that  direction,  but  the  day  closed  and  he  had  not  found 
the  river.  He  laid  down  near  a  small  stream  of  water, 
w^ithout  food  or  lire,  with  his  little  dog  curled  up  at  his 
feet.  The  third  morning  he  started  early,  saw  many  signs 
of  bufl'aloes,  but  found  none,  or  indeed  any  other  game. 
His  faithful  dog,  as  if  aware  of  his  necessities,  sought  as 
eagerly  as  himself  for  game,  and  toward  night  discovered 
a  little  half-starved  opossum.  Regarding  this  as  better 
than  no  food,  he  killed  and  roasted  it  by  his  camp-fire, 
and  offered  a  portion  to  his  dog,  who,  however,  declined 
to  partake  of  such  poor  fare ;  but  Mr.  Cutler,  having  now 
been  three  davs  without  food,  ate  it  with  relish  and  felt 
refreshed.  He  arose  on  the  fourth  morning,  after  a  good 
night's  sleep,  and  pursued  his  eastward  course  with  re- 
newed vigor,  though  probably  often  deviating  from  it. 
Soon  his  dog  started  up  a  flock  of  turkeys  ;  at  this  animat- 
ing sight  he  leveled  his  gun  at  one  of  the  largest  birds,  not 
thirty  feet  distant,  and  in  his  agitation  and  eagerness 
missed  his  mark,  and  it  flew  away  unharmed.  He  thought 
his  gun  must  have  been  bent  or  injured,  and  would  no 
longer  shoot  with  any  accuracy.  He  was  filled  with  de- 
spair, and  believed  he  must  starve  before  he  could  escape 
from  the  dreary  woods.  After  shedding  a  few  tears  over 
his  hopeless  condition,  he  examined  his  gun,  wiped  it  out, 
and  loaded  it  with  great  care.  A  solitary  turkey  was  still 
visible,  perched  on  the  top  of  a  high  tree.  Resting  his 
gun,  lie  took  deliberate  aim,  fired,  and  it  fell  to  the  ground. 
A  fire  was  made,  the  turkey  prepared  and  roasted  on  tlie 
coals ;  he  thought  he  never  tasted  sweeter  food — an  opin- 
ion in  which  his  little  dog  evidently  coincided.  Xot  long 
after,  a  deer  came  in  sight,  which  he  shot,  and  took  with 
him  the  choicer  portions  for  future  exigencies.  That  night 
he  supped  on'roasted  venison,  slept  soundly  by  a  cheerful 


276  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  31  a  jo  r  Jervis  Cutler. 

fire,  and  rose  with  renovated  strength  and  spirits  to  begin 
the  fifth  day  of  his  wanderings.  A  little  before  noou  he 
came  to  the  Hockhocking  at  a  place  he  recognized,  near 
where  the  surveying  party  began  their  work.  He  now 
knew  where  he  was,  but  instead  of  returning  to  the  settle- 
ment he  determined  to  follow  the  line  of  surveyors,  which 
he  could  readily  do  Ijy  the  blazes  on  the  trees,  until  he 
found  them.  Game  was  abundant ;  he  was  no  longer  har- 
rassed  by  feeling  that  he  was  lost.  He  started  with  fresh 
vigor  on  the  trace,  and  came  up  to  the  surveyors  the  eighth 
clay  of  his  solitary  ramble.  They  gave  their  lost  compan- 
ion a  joyful  welcome,  but  as  he  was  not  a  regular  hand, 
they  supposed  he  had  gone  back  to  the  settlement,  and 
were  not  so  much  alarmed  by  his  long  absence. 

A  severe  frost,  earlv  in  the  autumn  of  1789,  which  fell 
upon  and  ruined  the  fields  of  unripe  corn,  was  followed  by 
a  season  of  distressing  scarcity  of  wholesome  food  in  all 
the  settlements.  This  season  of  famine  was  long  known 
as  "  the  starving  year,"  and  was  not  relieved  until  the 
next  crop  was  gathered  in.  Jervis  Cutler  writes  to  his 
father,  March  15,  1790 :  "  The  reason  of  my  selling  my 
land  was  this :  We  had  lived  all  winter  on  the  provisions 
we  brought  down  the  river  with  us,  and  had  little  work  to 
do,  and  by  spring  we  had  expended  all  our  provisions,  and 
had  none  to  carry  on  to  our  land  with  us,  but  had  to  run 
in  debt  for  them.  Things  not  turning  out  as  I  expected, 
I  was  obliged  to  live  terribly  poor — almost  upon  nothing. 
The  men  from  whom  I  had  provisions  began  to  be  uneasy 
about  their  pay,  and  threatened  to  sue  me.  I  got  disgusted 
with  their  behavior  and  with  the  country,  and  sold  my 
land  to  pay  my  debts." 

He  adds :  "  The  small-pox  is  raging  very  severely  in  Ma- 
rietta at  present,  and  everybody  has  it  in  their  own  houses ; 
and  most  of  them  have  it  very  hard,  and  several  have 
died."  In  the  midst  of  famine,  pestilence,  and  debt,  no 
wonder  the  young  man  sold  his  land,  and  returned  to  his 
New  England  home,  which  he  reached  safely  after  an  ab- 
sence of  three  years. 

He  married,  in  1794,  Philadelphia  Cargill,  daughter  of 


Sketch  of  the  Lije  of  Major  Jervis  Cutler.  277 

Captain  Benjamin  Oargill,  who,  at  that  time,  owned  valu- 
able mills,  on  Quinabog  river.  In  1795,  his  brother,  Eph- 
raim  Cutler,  removed  from  Killingly  to  Marietta,  and,  not- 
withstanding his  hard  experiences  in  the  West,  he  would 
have  joined  him  in  the  migration,  but  liis  wife  shrank 
from  the  dangers  and  privations  of  pioneer  life,  which  fas- 
cinated him.  He  writes  to  his  brother  :  "  I  should  esteem 
it  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  my  life,  if  I  could  visit 
that  country  once  more." 

He  came  to  Ohio  in  1802,  and  engaged  in  the  fur  trade 
at  Chillicothe  and  on  the  Miami,  in  which  lie  was  fairly 
successful,  selling  his  furs  in  the  eastern  markets.  He 
came  west  again  in  1805,  and  established  himself  at  Bain- 
bridge,  on  Paint  creek,  where  he  purchased  land  and  built 
a  house,  carrvine:  on  a  mercantile  business  in  connection 
with  the  fur  trade.  In  May,  1806,  while  residing  there,  he 
was  elected  captain  of  a  ritle  company  ;  and  not  long  after 
major  of  Colonel  McArthur's  regiment  of  Ohio  militia,  a 
position  "  his  tine  personal  appearance  and  some  expe- 
rience in  military  aflairs  in  Connecticut  enabled  him  to 
fill  with  great  credit."— (Hildreth.) 

May,  3,  1808,  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Jefferson, 
a  captain  in  the  Seventh  regiment  of  United  States  Infan- 
try, and  received  orders  from  the  Secretary  of  War  to  open 
a  recruiting  office  in  Cincinnati.  In  l^ovember,  he  was 
sent  to  Xewport,  Kentucky,  to  take  command  of  that  can- 
tonment ;  and  writes  from  there  to  his  brother  :  "  I  have 
been  ordered  with  my  company  to  this  place,  but  am 
doubtful  w^hether  my  winter  quarters  will  be  here.  I  lack 
but  ten  men  of  the  seventy-five  necessary  to  complete  my 
company,  and  I  have  the  finest  set  of  young  men  ever  en- 
listed this  side  of  the  mountains  ;  and  they  are,  considering 
the  short  time,  tolerably  well  trained.  I  have  lost  five  by 
desertion  and  death.  I  have  a  very  agreeable  set  of  of- 
ficers, and  we  are  pleased  with  our  company  and  situa- 
tion." 

With  a  full  company,  he  was  ordered,  February  23, 
1809,  to  New  Orleans,  where  they  arrived  late  in  March, 
and  were  attached  to  the  command  of  Major  Z.  M,  Pike. 


278  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  3Iajor  Jervis  Cutler. 

He  was  soon  after  prostrated  with  yellow  fever,  and 
"  while  lyinp^  very  low,  reduced  to  a  mere  skeleton,"  he 
received  notice  that,  "  the  senate  not  having  confirmed  his 
appointment,  he  was'dismissed  the  service."  Conscious  of 
his  own  integrity  and  zeal  for  the  service,  and  being  sick, 
away  from  friends,  without  pay,  and  two  thousand  miles 
from  home,  he  thought  his  case  extremely  hard.  On  in- 
vestigation, it  was  found  that  the  secretary  had  neglected 
to  present  his  name  to  the  senate,  and  that  he  had  been 
falsely  charged  with  having,  at  an  election  in  Ohio,  en- 
gaged in  electioneering,  and  spoken  disrespectfully  of  the 
administration.  These  charges  he  was  able  fully  to  dis- 
prove, and  he  applied  to  Congress  for  redress;  and,  in 
April,  1814,  he  received  tardy  justice  by  the  allowance  of 
his  claim. 

On  leaving  ISTew  Orleans,  Jervis  Cutler  went,  by  way  of 
"Washington,  to  Massachusetts.  He  was  a  man  of  much 
versatilitv  of  talent,  and  a  o-reat  taste  for  the  fine  arts. 
During  his  invalidism,  he  made  some  attempts  at  engrav- 
ing, specimens  of  which  he  sent  to  his  Ohio  friends.  Writ- 
ing of  them,  he  says  :  "  These  are  my  first  attempts  in  this 
way.  I  had  no  tools  fit  to  work  with,  and  never  saw  an 
engraver  at  work  in  my  life.  These  were  done,  by  candle 
light,  for  my  own  amusement,  and  if  they  contribute  to 
yours,  I  shall  be  highly  gratified." 

In  1812,  he  prepared  and  published  "A  Topographical 
Description  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  Indiana  Territory,  and 
Louisiana,  with  a  Concise  Account  of  the  Indian  Tribes 
"West  of  the  Mississippi,  to  which  is  added  the  Journal 
of  Mr.  Charles  Le  Raye  while  a  Captive  with  the  Sioux 
Nation  on  the  Waters  of  the  Missouri  River."  When  de- 
scending the  jSlississippi,  on  the  way  to  ISTew  Orleans,  in 
1809,  !Major  Cutler  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Le 
Raye  ;  speaking  the  French  language  fluently,  he  obtained 
from  that  gentleman  the  Journal,  and  much  interesting 
information  of  a  people  and  region  then  little  known.  He 
illustrated  the  book  with  copper-plate  engravings.  About 
one  thousand  copies  were  printed,  and  it  appears  to  have 
been  quite  popular.     He  successfully  continued  his  eftbrts 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Major  Jervis  Cutler.  279 

to  acquire  the  engraver's  art.  His  work  was  approved, 
and  he  received  patronage  from  Salem  and  Boston. 

In  1814,  he  was  again  in  Ohio  settling  up  his  affairs,  and 
on  his  return  had  in  charge  a  daughter  of  Ephraim  Cut- 
ler, going  east  to  attend  school.  The  journey  was  made 
on  horseback,  passing  through  Washington  and  Baltimore 
just  before  those  places  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British 
army. 

In  1817,  he  took  his  final  leave  of  ]S"ew  England.  There 
were  as  yet  no  public  conveyances  across  the  country,  and 
he  moved  his  family  in  wagons  to  Ohio.  Here  Mrs.  Cut- 
ler died,  October  6,  1820.  He  married  again  in  1824,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  S.  Chandler,  of  Evansville,  Indiana,  and  settled 
in  I^ashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  pursued  his  occupation 
as  an  engraver.  He  was  employed  to  engrave  plates  for 
business  cards  and  bank-notes  in  Tennessee  and  Alabama, 
and  to  illustrate  "  TanneliilFs  Masonic  Manual." 

In  1841,  he  removed  to  Evansville,  where  he  died,  June 
25,  1844;  aged  seventy-six  years. 

He  was  a  man  of  kindly  spirit,  wide  intelligence,  and 
correct  habits.  His  varied  experiences  made  him  a -most 
interesting  talker  and  jjleasant  companion.  He  was  a 
Whig  in  principle,  but  took  no  active  part  in  politics.  His 
step-sons,  W.  H.  Chandler,  Esq.,  editor  of  the  '^Evansville 
Journal,"  and  Hon.  John  J.  Chandler,  bore  affectionate 
testimony  to  his  great  kindness  of  heart  and  moral  excel- 
lence. His  daughters  marriei]  and  settled  at  the  South. 
He  had  three  sons:  Albigence  Waldo  Cutler,  an  elder  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  died  in  Iowa  City,  Iowa,  in  18*31 ; 
Charles  Torrey  Cutler,  editor  of  "  El  ISTicaraguense,"  died 
at  Granada,  jS'icaragua,  in  1856;  George  Albert  Cutler, 
M.D.,  is  in  California. 


280         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 


WILLIAM  PARKER  CUTLER. 

William  Parker  Cutler,  youngest  son  of  Ephraim  and 
Sally  Parker  Cutler,  was  born  at  the  old  Cutler  homestead 
in  Warren  township,  Washington  county,  Ohio,  12tli  July, 
1812.  He  died  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  where  he  had  lived  since 
1872,  on  the  11th  of  April,  1889. 

His  father,  always  a  busy  man,  was  much  in  public  life 
in  William's  school-boy  days,  and  his  mother  had  charge 
of  his  early  education.  She  was  a  woman  of  cultivated 
mind  and  literary  tastes,  and  of  earnest  religious  feeling, 
and  she  left  the  impress  of  her  strong  character  indelibly 
upon  his  mind.  In  1829  he  entered  the  Ohio  University 
at  Athens  in  the  class  of  1833.  At  the  close  of  the  Junior 
year  ill-health  obliged  him  to  abandon  his  studies,  and 
make  a  long  journey  on  horseback  through  the  South. 
On  his  return  home,  he  engaged  in  farming  with  his 
father.  His  feeble  health  continued  many  years,  and  ef- 
fectually checked  any  aspirations  he  may  have  had  for  a 
professional  career.  In  the  great  political  campaign  of 
1840  he  began  to  make  public  speeches.  Very  soon  he 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Whig 
party,  and  in  1842  was  its  nominee  for  representative  in 
the  state  legislature  from  Washington  county.  He  was 
defeated  by  George  M.  Woodbridge,  who  ran  as  an  inde- 
pendent candidate,  and  was  supported  by  the  Democrats. 

In  1844  he  was  again  nominated,  and  was  elected  by  a 
large  majority.  IS^otwithstanding  his  retiring  disposition, 
he  soon  acquired  an  influential  position  among  his  party 
friends  in  the  legislature,  and  before  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion was  recognized  as  a  leader  on  the  floor.  In  1845  he 
was  re-elected.  In  July,  of  that  year,  three  citizens  of 
Washington  county,  Creighton  J.  Lorraine,  Peter  Garner, 
and  John  Thomas,  while  engaged  in  assisting  runaway 
slaves  to  escape,  were  captured  by  a  party  of  Virginians 
on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  river,  within  the  limits  of  Wash- 


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p.  QUTEKUN&T,   PRINT,   PHiLA. 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.        281 

ington  county,  forcibly  abducted,  and  contined  in  the  jail 
at  Parkersburg.  Ko  Virginian  would  bail  them,  althougli 
JSTahum  Ward,  A.  T.  Nye,  and  Mr.  Cutler  oft'ered  to  in- 
demnify their  bondsmen  in  any  sum.  They  were  tried 
and  found  guilty  at  the  September  term  of  the  court  at 
Parkersburg,  but  the  question  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Vir- 
ginia over  the  soil  where  they  were  captured  was  referred 
to  the  Virginia  Court  of  Appeals.  In  December  the  Ohio 
Legislature  met.  Immediately  upon  Mr.  Cutler's  arrival 
at  Columbus,  Governor  Mordecai  Bartley  sent  for  him,  and 
informed  him  that  he  had  matured  a  plan  for  the  rescue 
of  the  prisoners.  It  was  to  organize  quietly  a  company — 
say  100  men — of  the  militia  at  Columbus,  place  them  un- 
der reliable  officers,  appoint  a  rendezvous  near  the  Ohio 
river  bank,  where  the  men  should  collect  early  on  a  given 
eveninsr,  secure  boats,  cross  the  river,  and  take  the  three 
Ohio  men  out  of  jail,  and  set  them  at  liberty  on  Ohio  soil. 
Mr.  Cutler  gave  the  governor  all  the  information  he 
needed,  but  told  him  the  inevitable  result  would  be  a  bor- 
der war,  and  uro-ed  him  to  at  least  delav  action.  Governor 
Bartle}'  was  inclined  to  act  at  once,  and  seemed  to  think 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  secure  possession  of  the  men.  Be- 
fore he  put  his  plan  in  operation,  Samuel  F.  Vinton  made 
his  famous  argument  before  the  Virginia  Court  of  Appeals. 
That  court,  at  a  special  session  held  at  Parkersburg  early 
in  January,  1846,  admitted  the  prisoners  to  bail,  each  in 
the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars,  and  each  on  his  own 
recognizance.  They  were  at  once  set  at  liberty,  and  the 
case  never  reached  a  iinal  decision. 

In  the  fall  of  1846  Mr.  Cutler  was  again  nominated  and 
elected  to  tlie  legislature.  Of  his  journey  to  Columbus, 
now  a  five  hours'  ride  by  rail,  he  wrote  to  his  father  on 
December  7th  :  "  .  .  .  The  stage  left  Marietta  at  11 
o'clock  Wednesday  night,  and  we  had  a  perilous  time  get- 
ting to  Zanesville.  We  found  the  water  over  the  bridge 
this  side  Lowell  so  deep  that  the  driver  refused  to  cross. 
I  prevailed  upon  him  to  let  me  have  a  horse  and  ride  over 
and  back,  after  which  he  ventured  with  the  coach.  We 
drove  over  Big  Run  bridge  with  the  plank  all  afloat  some 


282        Sketch  of  the  Life  of  WiUiani  Parker  Cutler. 

eight  or  ten  inches  above  the  sleepers,  the  fore  wheels  in 
some  places  pushing  the  planks  up  in  heaps,  and  the  hind 
wheels  running  on  the  sleepers.  At  another  place  we 
tried  to  swim,  but  the  horses  refused,  and  turned  directly 
for  the  river  at  the  mouth  of  the  creek;  we  were  barely 
saved  by  striking  a  high  bank,  which  projected  into  the 
stream.  At  the  brido-e  across  Olive  Green  we  found  the 
plank  afloat,  and  the  driver  and  myself  waded  in  and  spent 
half  an  hour  in  the  water  loading  the  plank  down  with 
stones.  But  we  were  o-raciouslv  preserved,  and  arrived 
safely  at  Zanesville  Thursday  evening,  and  at  Columbus 
Friday  night.  .  .  .  The  Whigs,  with  great  cordiality 
and  unanimity,  have  placed  me  in  the  speaker's  chair,  the 
duties  of  which  give  me  but  little  time  at  present." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Cincinnati  Sio-nal,  after  the  close  of 
this  session,  Hon.  E.  G.  Squier  spoke  of  Mr.  Cutler's  leg- 
islative career  as  follows  : 

"Let  us  glance  around  the  hall  of  the  lower  house — not 
to  admire  its  architectural  wonders — and  see  if  we  can  de- 
tect the  '  men  of  mark.'  Our  attention  first  rests  upon  the 
speaker's  chair.  Its  occupant  is  a  tall  and  swarthy,  per- 
haps we  should  say  sallow  man,  dressed  with  the  utmost 
plainness,  and  with  a  carelessness  which  might  be  deemed 
aft'ectation  in  any  other  person.  He  stoops  slightly — is  it 
from  a  sense  of  beine;  tall  and  without  elea-ance?  No. 
Although  modest  and  retiring  to  a  fault,  he  never  bestows 
-a  thought  on  outward  appearance,  nor  calculates  outward 
impressions.     .     .     . 

"Mr.  Cutler  is  a  gentleman  of  liberal  education,  and  his 
acquirements  are  rich  and  varied.  Yet  he  has  always 
been  contented  in  the  quiet  of  his  farm  ;  and  in  that  re- 
tirement, reflection  and  thought  have  exercised  their 
chastening  and  refining  influences.  When,  therefore  Mr. 
Cutler  was  called  to  the  capitol,  he  came  there  with  a 
healthy,  well-balanced  intellect,  and  nothing  l)ut  a  modesty 
almost  painful  in  its  excess  prevented  him  from  at  once 
assuming  the  lead  of  his  party.  Yet,  witliout  eftbrt,  he 
soon  became  invested  with  an  influence  second  to  no  other 
man's  on  the  floor,  and  his  voice  carried  with  it  a  predom- 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.        283 

inatiug  weight.  As  soon  us  the  result  of  the  late  state 
canvas  was  ascertained,  all  eyes  turned  to  him  as  the  man 
best  fitted  to  preside  over  the  House  to  which  he  was 
elected.  He  received  the  unanimous  nomination  of  his  party 
and  was  elected  to  the  Speakership.  No  other  selection 
could  possibly  prove  so  satisfactory.  He  possesses  the  un- 
bounded respect  and  esteem  of  all,  and  the  utmost  confi- 
dence is  reposed  in  his  impartiality.  As  an  evidence  ot 
this  it  is  only  necessary  to- mention  the  fact  that  not  a  sin- 
gle appeal  has  been  made  from  his  decisions  during  the 
session,  a  circumstance  without  precedent  in  the  history 
of  previous  legislatures. 

"As  an  orator  Mr.  Cutler  is  impressive  rather  than 
forcible,  and  his  speeches  are  marked  by  a  finish  pos- 
sessed l>y  those  of  few  other  men  in  the  state.  They 
flow  as  smoothly  as  Berriens,  but  there  is  an  earnestness 
about  them  which  Berriens's  mere  oratory  does  not  possess  ; 
and  for  this  reason  they  are  more  effective.  He  is  un- 
questionably the  most  chaste  and  classical  speaker  in  the 
Legislature." 

In  1848  Mr.  Cutler  was  warmly  supported  for  Governor, 
but  the  situation  demanded  a  candidate  from  ISTorthern 
Ohio,  and  Seabury  Ford  was  chosen.  Later  in  the  year  he 
received  the  Whig  nominatien  f  >r  Congress  in  the  district 
composed  of  Washington,  Morgan,  and  Perry  counties, 
and  after  an  active  campaign,  was  defeated  by  William  A. 
Whittlesey.  Writing  of  him  in  this  canvass,  Hon.  Charles 
B.  Goddard,  of  Zanesvilie,  who  for  many  years  served  the 
state  in  high  positions,  said :  "  ISTo  man  stands  higher  in 
my  estimation  than  William  P.  Cutler.  In  argument  he 
is  one  of  the  most  convincing  men  I  ever  knew.  I  ac- 
knowledge to  a  change  of  opinion  on  more  than  one 
occasion  produced  by  his  reasoning.*' 

In  1849  ]SIr.  Cutler  was  chosen  as  the  member  from 
AYashington  county,  to  the  convention  which  formed  the 
present  constitution  of  Ohio.  The  Whigs  were  largely  in 
the  minority  in  this  body.  While  it  was  in  session  in 
Columbus,  on  the  6th  and  7th  of  May,  1850,  the  Whig 
State    (Convention    was    held.     Mr.   Cutler    writes    in    his 


284        Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

notes :  "  The  delegates  from  Summit  and  Perry,  and  indi- 
viduals from  other  parts  of  the  state,  expressed  a  wish 
that  I  should  be  the  candidate  for  Governor,  but  I  declined 
positively."     Judge  William  Johnson  was  nominated. 

While  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  in  1845,  Mr.  Cutler 
was  active  in  procuring  the  charter  of  the  Belpre  and  Cin- 
cinnati Railroad.  He  was  elected  a  director  at  the  organ- 
ization of  the  company,  in  August,  1847.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  board,  in  September,  he  was  appointed  to  prepare  a 
concise  statement  of  statistical  facts  and  arguments  favor- 
able to  the  construction  of  the  road.  This  report  was 
printed  in  1848,  and  widely  circulated.  In  1849,  at  a 
request  of  a  number  of  citizens  of  Marietta,  he  visited 
Baltimore  to  ascertain  the  prospect  of  the  completion  of 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  and  of  forming  a  satis- 
factory connection  with  it.  He  met  with  little  encourage- 
ment, for  while  the  officers  of  that  company  preferred  to 
make  the  western  terminus  of  the  road  at  the  mouth  of 
Fishing  creek  or  at  Parkersburg,  the  citizens  of  Wheeling 
had  succeeded  in  securing  the  passage  t)f  a  law  compelling 
them  to  build  to  that  city.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
company,  in  August,  1850,  Mr.  Cutler  was  chosen  presi- 
dent. Of  this  he  wrote :  "  I  accepted  the  office  of  presi- 
dent at  the  solicitation  of  the  directors,  particularly 
Latham  and  Madeira,  and  with  the  hope  that  the  road 
would  be  built  through  Athens  and  Washington  counties, 
and  thus  secure  to  that  region  great  advantages."  Surveys 
for  the  line  were  commenced  at  once.  After  a  vain  eltbrt 
to  unite  with  the  Ilillsboro  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  a  line 
was  located  from  Chillicothe  west  via  Blanchester  to  Mil- 
ford  on  the  Little  Miami  road,  and  east  to  Byers  Station.- 
This  part  of  the  road  was  placed  under  contract  in  1851^ 
although  but  $550,000  in  all  had  been  subscribed.  East 
of  B\'ers  the  only  subscription  was  $100,000  from  Athens 
count}'.  Legislative  authority  having  been  obtained,  sub- 
scriptions aggregating  $350,000  were  voted  by  Washington 
county,  Harmar  and  Marietta,  and  these,  with  $50,000 
individual  subscriptions,  were  otiered  to  the  company  with 
the  condition    that    its    name    should  be  changed  to  the 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.      285 

Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  and  the  road  should  he 
built  through  Barlow  township.  Noah  L.  Wilson,  a 
director  of  the  road,  had  visited  Philadelphia  and  obtained 
positive  assurances  of  aid  from  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
in  case  the  proposition  of  Washington  county  was  ac- 
cepted. Equally  positive  assurances  came  through  other 
channels,  that  no  aid  could  he  expected  from  the  city  of 
Baltimore  or  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad.  A  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Mr.  Cutler,  Col.  Jno.  Madeira,  Judge 
Rittenhouse,  and  the  attorney  of  the  company,  Allen  G. 
Thurman,  was  appointed  to  visit  Marietta,  and  confer  with 
the  authorities  in  regard  to  the  proposition.  This  com- 
mittee unanimously  recommended  its  acceptance  "  upon 
the  terms,  conditions  and  restrictions  therein  specified," 
The  report  was  adopted  by  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Belpre  and  Cincinnati  Raih'oad  on  the  12th  of  August, 
1851,  the  only  dissenting  vote  being  that  of  Allen  Latham. 
The  name  of  the  road  became  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati. 
John  Mills  and  Douglas  Putnam  were  elected  directors, 
and,  a  year  thereafter,  Beman  Gates  and  William  S.  iS'ye. 
Principally  through  the  efforts  of  jSToah  L.  Wilson,  sub- 
scriptions were  made  of  $750,000  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company,  and  |250,000  by  the  city  of  Wheeling. 
These  large  subscriptions  to  the  stock  of  the  company 
made  a  basis 'of  credit  which  at  once  gave  its  mortgage 
bonds  high  value.  The  entire  line  to  Wheeling  was  placed 
under  contract  to  be  completed  December  1,  1854,  and  at 
one  time  over  six  thousand  men  were  at  work  upon  it. 
An  ugly  contest  with  the  Hillsboro  and  Cincinnati  Rail- 
road Company,  which,  with  the  countenance  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad,  was  building  to  Parkersburg,  was 
ended  by  a  purchase  of  a  control  of  its  stock.  All  the 
conditions  of  success  seemed  to  be  fulfilled,  when,  without 
warning,  came  the  news  of  the  Crimean  War.  Sales  of 
securities  ceased.  The  work  was  stopped  and  every  work- 
man discharged.  Mr.  Cutler's  health,  which  had  long 
been  feeble,  failed  entirely,  and  he  was  obliged  to  resign, 
in  September,  1854.  He  still  continued  a  director.  Large 
suits  were  brought  against  the  company  by  some  of  the 


286        Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

contractors.  The  little  money  that  could  be  raised  was 
quickly  absorbed  in  paying  interest.  Mr.  Wilson,  who  had 
succeeded  to  the  presidency  of  the  company,  returned 
from  England  early  in  1855,  with  a  proposition  from  a 
syndicate,  headed  by  the  Count  Zaleski,  an  exiled  Pole 
then  residing  in  Paris,  to  buy  $1,000,000  of  the  second  mort- 
gage bonds  of  the  company  if  the  syndicate  could  buy  two 
thousand  acres  of  mineral  lands  on  the  road  at  a  low  price 
and  the  principal  shops  could  be  located  on  them.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  company,  Mr.  Seneca  W.  Ely,  its  secretary, 
had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  mineral  district,  and 
had  a  short  time  before,  in  connection  with  Mr.  David 
■Christy,  procured  options  on  several  thousand  acres  of  land 
in  Vinton  county.  These  options  had  expired,  but  Mr. 
Ely  promptly  renewed  them  and  placed  them  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  company,  thus  enabling  it  to  consummate  the 
sale. 

Mr.  Cutler  attended  the  meeting  of  the  board  at  Chilli- 
cothe,  at  w^iich  this  proposition  was  considered.  In  an- 
swer to  the  question  "  how  much  money  will  take  it  to  open 
the  road  in  the  cheapest  manner  from  Athens  to  Marietta?" 
he  stated  that  by  adopting  temporary  lines  with  high  grades 
and  short  curves  it  could  be  done  for  half  a  million  dollars. 
He  had  procured  surveys  of  such  lines  a  year  before.  The 
chief  engineer  was  not  willing  to  indorse  this  estimate. 
Immediately  after  the  meeting,  Mr.  Cutler  was  obliged,  on 
account  of  his  health,  to  abandon  all  his  business,  and  make 
a  long  journey  through  Iowa  and  Minnesota.  Returning 
about  July  1st,  much  improved  in  health,  he  was  summoned 
to  a  board  meeting  in  Athens.  Work  had  been  resumed 
west  of  Athens,  but  nothing  had  been  done  east.  The  en- 
gineers had  been  engaged  for  months  in  making  surveys 
for  a  modified  line,  and  reported  that  one  million  dollars 
would  be  required  to  finish  from  Athens  to  Marietta.  This 
put  the  completion  of  the  road  entirely  beyond  the  utmost 
reach  of  the  resources  of  the  company.  Under  the  cir- 
cumstances Mr.  Cutler  felt  obliged  to  again  enter  its  service 
as  a  member  of  the  "  Committee  on  Construction,"  with 
Beman  Gates  and  William  S.  i^ye.     The  chief  engineer  re- 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.       287 

signed,  and  Col.  H.  C.  Moore  was  appointed  to  succeed  him. 
He  co-operated  heartily  with  the  committee,  and  they  were 
soon  able  to  report  that  contracts  had  been  let  providing- 
for  the  completion  of  the  road  to  Marietta  for  less  than 
$500,000.  To  the  efforts  of  this  committee  at  that  time, 
seconded  as  they  were  by  Col.  Moore,  the  people  of  Wash- 
ino;ton  conntv  are  indebted  for  whatever  of  value  the 
Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad  has  been  to  them. 

The  long  delay  in  resuming  work  east  of  Athens  proved 
w^ell  nigh  fatal,  but  after  labors  and  struggles,  sacrifices, 
difficulties  and  discouragements  impossible  to  describe  or 
for  the  men  of  this  generation  to  appreciate,  the  road  was 
so  far  completed  that  a  train  ran  through  from  Athens  to 
Marietta  on  the  9th  of  April,  1857. 

What  followed  is  best  told  in  Mr.  Cutler  s  own  words  : 
"  The  year  1857,  will  be  long  remembered  for  its  financial 
crisis,  paralyzing  the  internal  commerce  of  the  country, 
producing  disaster  and  ruin  to  enterprise,  and  an  almost 
utter  prostration  of  credit.  Beneath  the  ruins  of  that  storm 
nearly  all  the  capital  of  the  country  invested  in  unfinished 
railroads  was  lost.  In  that  year  the  Marietta  and  Cincin- 
nati Railroad  was  opened  for  public  use.  Its  opening  was 
just  in  time  to  receive  Mnth  fatal  effect  that  blow  which 
staggered  the  commerce,  credit  and  enterprise  of  the  civil- 
ized world.  ...  A  large  force  had  been  placed  along 
the  line  after  its  opening  to  prosecute  vigorously  works 
really  of  construction.  To  meet  payments  for  this  work  the 
managers  relied  upon  the  earnings,  which  continued  to  in- 
crease rapidly  from  the  opening  until  the  crisis  of  the  sub- 
sequent autumn  was  fully  developed.  The  consequent  loss 
of  earnings  left  them  without  means  to  pay  a  force  they 
were  reluctant  to  discharge  without  full  compensation  for 
past  labor.  Strikes,  insubordination,  and  riots  were  the 
result.  To  the  almost  entire  demoralization  of  the  operat- 
ing force  which  ensued  was  added  the  calamity  of  eighteen 
months  of  almost  incessant  rain.  This  was  so  completely 
destructive  of  the  newly  laid  track  that  regular  trains  were 
actually  stopped  on  a  portion  of  the  road  for  nearly  three 
months  in  the  winter  of  1857-1858.     The  patrons  of  the 


288        Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

road  became  discouraged;  its  enemies  were  active  and  un- 
scrupulous. Thus  between  internal  disaster  and  outside 
enmity,  its  life  was  crushed  out  as  between  the  upper  and 
nether  millstone." 

Visiting  Baltimore,  early  in  1858,  to  secure  assistance  in 
building  a  connection  between  Parkersburg  and  Marietta, 
Mr.  Cutler  met  Philip  E.  Thomas,  the  first  President  of 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad.  Of  his  interview  with 
him  he  wrote  :  "  Mr.  Thomas  expressed  much  sympathy 
with  us,  and  said  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  people  ought  to 
give  us  the  aid  we  asked.  He  said  the  idea  of  a  railroad 
was  suggested  to  him  by  the  following  incident:  At  the 
time  the  Baltimore  people  were  much  interested  in  the 
project  of  a  canal  to  the  Ohio  river,  he  was  one  of  the 
canal  commissioners  of  the  State  of  Maryland.  He  had 
become  satisfied  that  a  canal  was  impracticable,  if  for  no 
other  reason,  from  the  want  of  water  on  the  Alleghany 
summit.  His  brother  (who  was  present)  was  at  the  same 
time  much  interested  in  a  plan  to  reach  the  western  trade 
from  Baltimore  by  means  of  very  broad  tired  wagons,  to 
be  drawn  by  eight  or  ten  horses.  He  went  to  England  to 
investigate  the  matter,  and  from  there  wrote  to  Philip  E. 
Thomas  that  he  had  just  seen  two  heavily  loaded  wagons 
drawn  by  a  single  horse  with  great  ease  over  iron  rails. 
Discarding  the  idea  of  broad  tired  wagons,  he  urged  him 
to  reflect  upon  the  results  that  might  be  reached  by  con- 
structing a  road  laid  with  iron  rails  over  the  mountains. 
This  letter  decided  Philip  E.  Thomas  to  undertake  the 
construction  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad." 

Mr.  Cutler  was  elected' vice-president  of  the  road  in  1857. 
In  May,  1858,  he  was  elected  president  to  fill  the  vacancy  oc- 
casioned by  the  resignation  of  Mr.Wilson.  At  this  time  all 
business  between  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  and  the  J^orth- 
w^estern  Virginia  Railroad,  at  Parkersburg,  was  transferred 
by  boat ;  freight  from  Harmar  and  passengers  from  Scott's 
landing.  The  cost  and  uncertainty  of  this  transfer  was 
so  great  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  any  through 
business.  The  local  business  of  the  road  was  barely  suf- 
ficient to  keep  the  trains  in  motion.     A  direct  connection 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.         289 

was  vital.  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  had  refused 
to  aid  it.  The  English  bond  holders  were  unwilling  to 
make  further  advances.  Others  interested  were  unable. 
All  wished  it  built.  Every  body  was  willing  that  some 
one  else  should  undertake  it.  The  directors  of  the  Ma- 
rietta and  Cincinnati  Road  had  made  large  advances  to 
complete  it,  and  suft'ered  heavily  in  fortune  and  credit.  It 
seemed  like  madness  for  any  of  them  to  assume  additional 
liabilities.  Some  body  must  step  into  the  breach.  The 
Union  Railroad  Company  was  organized,  in  1858,  to  con- 
struct a  line  between  Scott's  landing  and  Belpre,  a  dis- 
tance of  nine  miles.  John  Mills,  Douglas  Putnam,  and 
Mr.  Cutler  undertook  its  construction.  In  November, 
1858,  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  receiver.  By  prompt  action,  the  home 
interests  secured  the  appointment  of  Orland  Smith  by  the 
state  court,  which  was  regarded  as  a  more  favorable 
forum  for  the  enforcement  of  their  rights.  Relieved  from 
the  immediate  oversight  of  that  road,  Mr.  Cutler  devoted 
himself  to  the  task  of  securing  funds  for  and  constructing 
the  Union  line.  A  loan  of  $20,000  was  secured  from  the 
city  of  Baltimore.  With  this,  and  some  other  smaller 
loans  and  the  money  and  credit  of  its  promoters,  the  road 
was  finished  to  Belpre  in  the  fall  of  1859.  Its  completion 
enabled  Mr.  Wilson  to  carry  through  a  plan  of  reorgani- 
zation of  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  by  which 
all  of  its  indebtedness  was  converted  into  stock  of  a  new 
company. 

j^otwithstanding  the  diiiiculties  and  perplexities  in 
which  Mr.  Cutler  was  constantly  involved  in  the  decade 
from  1850  to  1860,  he  did  not  relax  his  interest  in  public 
affairs.  Always  a  "  free-soil "  Whig,  he  hailed  as  the 
dawn  of  a  new  day  the  formation  of  the  Republican 
party,  whose  organic  idea  was  opposition  to  the  extension 
of  slavery.  In  1856,  at  the  request  of  the  Republican 
Central  Committee,  of  Washington  county,  he  held  a 
series  of  joint  discussions  with  General  T.  C.  H.  Smith, 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress. 
19 


290  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

Ho  was  a  delegate  to  the  Presbyterian  General  Assem- 
bly, held  in  Cleveland  in  May,  1857.  The  absorbing 
topic  before  the  assembly  was  slavery.  The  earnest  anti- 
slavery  men  believed  that  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the 
Church  could  only  be  vindicated  by  explicitly  declaring 
that  slavery  was  a  sin,  and  by  directing  the  Presbyteries 
South  to  no  longer  tolerate  slave-holding  members,  ruHng 
elders,  and  ministers.  Those  wlio  believed  that  slavery 
was  rio'ht  were  readv  to  accept  the  issue.  Most  of  the 
clergy,  who  were  connected  with  the  educational  and  l)e- 
nevolent  institutions  of  the  church,  were  disposed  to  take 
some  middle  ground.  A  paper  prepared  by  them,  omit- 
ting any  expression  as  to  the  sinfulness  of  slavery,  and 
simply  requesting  the  Presbyteries  South  to  review  their 
position,  was  presented.  Mr.  Cutler  offered  a  substitute, 
prepared  by  himself  and  Mr.  Haines,  of  Albany,  New 
York,  expressing  the  views  of  the  anti-slavery  members, 
that  slavery  was  a  sin,  and  that  discipline  to  the  full  ex- 
extent  of  the  constitutional  power  of  the  assembly  was 
the  only  proper  action.  He  supported  this  paper  in  a  fif- 
teen minute  speech  of  remarkable  power,  but  it  was  de- 
feated and  the  other  adopted,  Mr.  Cutler  alone,  of  the 
northern  members,  voting  against  it.  After  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  assembly.  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob  Little,  of  Granville, 
Ohio,  wrote  to  him:  "In  the  opinion  of  thousands  your 
resolutions  and  3'our  stirring  and  rousing  speech  were  the 
most  important  items  of  the  last  assembly.  Do  not  allow 
yourself  to  feel  that  you  were  defeated,  for  you  were  not. 
You  and  your  paper  were  the  locomotive  that  drew  up 
that  long  train,  the  whole  Church  North,  to  the  sticking 
point  of  adopting,  with  wonderful  unanimity,  what  I  hope 
will  be  sufficient,  though  a  stronger  one  would  have  made 
the  sure  more  certain." 

In  1860,  Mr.  Cutler  was  elected  to  the  Thirty-seventh 
Congress  from  the  district  composed  of  Morgan,  "Washing- 
ton, and  Muskingum  counties,  the  Hon.  Hugh  J.  Jewett, 
of  Zanesville,  being  his  competitor.  The  period  of  time 
covered  by  this  Congress  was  the  most  critical  in  the  his- 
tory of  the   nation.     The  war,  for  which  the   South  had 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.         291 

been  long  preparing  and  which  the  people  of  the  North 
could  not  be  made  to  believe  was  impending  until  it  was 
thundered  in  their  ears  by  the  guns  of  Fort  Sumter,  had 
begun  when  the  Congress  was  convened  in  extra  session, 
July  4,  1861.  Washington  City  was  a  martial  camp.  A 
dav's  march  south  of  the  Potomac  were  the  white  tents 
of  a  hostile  army.  At  the  National  capitol  all  was  con- 
fusion. A  future  major-general  of  the  Confederate  army 
and  its  last  secretary  of  war  still  held  a  seat  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  The  city  was  filled  with  rebel  sym- 
pathizers. Communication  between  Washington  and 
Richmond  was  scarcely  interrupted.  Richmond  papers 
published  each  day  the  Washington  news  with  but  a  day's 
delay.  Among  the  supporters  of  the  Union  were  men  of 
every  grade  of  opinion.  There  were  those  who,  like  Mr. 
Cutler,  believed  that  slavery  was  the  cause  of  the  war, 
and  that  no  lasting  peace  could  be  had  except  by  its  de- 
struction. There  were  some  who  demanded  its  preserva- 
tion as  the  price  of  their  loyalty.  Eftorts  were  still  being 
made  to  formulate  a  plan  of  settlement  by  which  further 
bloodshed  could  be  prevented. 

In  the  South  there  was  but  one  sentiment  expressed,  and 
that  was  for  separation  at  any  cost  of  blood  and  treasure. 

When  the  session  was  half  over,  the  National  army  was 
defeated  at  Bull  Run.  It  was  a  severe,  but  necessary 
lesson  to  the  people  of  the  North.  It  taught  them  that  a 
divided  North  could  not  hope  for  success  over  a  solid 
South.  Immediately  after  the  battle  a  number  of  Ohio 
congressmen  met  and  each  agreed  to  tender  to  the  govern- 
ment a  regiment  of  men  from  his  own  district.  They  called 
upon  the  secretary  of  war,  who  agreed  to  accept  the  regi- 
ments if  they  could  be  raised  without  expense  to  the  gov- 
ernment. The  congressmen  pledged  themselves  to  com- 
ply with  this  condition,  Mr.  Cutler  telegraphed  to  Melvin 
Clarke  and  Jesse  Hildebrand,  of  Marietta,  on  July  23d: 
"  Government  will  probably  accept  an  infantry  regiment 
if  ready  in  fifteen  days.  Can  you  raise  it?  I  will  bear  all 
incidental  expense  of  raising  it." 

Mr.  Clarke  replied   on   July  21th:     "I  think  we  can 


292  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

have  a  regiment  ready  in  fifteen  days,  though  some  of  our 
companies  have  gone  to  Cincinnati.     We  will  try." 

On  the  same  day  Governor  Dennison  wired  Mr.  Cutler, 
in  reply  to  his  telegram,  that  he  expected  to  secure  a  regi- 
ment in  the  Sixteenth  Congressional  District :  "  With 
whom  shall  I  correspond  to  determine  whether  I  shall  ac- 
cept your  regiment  ?  Will  not  secretary  of  war  accept  it 
in  addition  to  regiments  ordered  through  me  ?  "  On  July 
25th,  Mr.  Clarke  and  General  Hildebrand  telegraphed  Mr. 
Cutler :  "  We  have  become  fully  satisfied  that  we  can 
raise  the  regiment.  What  arrangements  will  be  made  for 
encamping,  drilling,  uniforming,  and  feeding?  Volun- 
teers want  to  know." 

The  regiment,  the  Thirty-sixth  Ohio,  was  completed 
and  sent  to  the  front  in  the  month  of  August.  Captain, 
afterward  Major-General  George  Crook  was  its  first 
colonel.  No  finer  body  of  men  ever  went  to  the  field  or 
rendered  more  efficient  service. 

The  extra  session  closed  August  5th.  Mr.  Cutler  came 
home  and  was  taken  violently  ill  with  typhoid  fever.  For 
a  time  it  was  thought  that  he  could  not  recover,  and  he 
was  not  able  to  go  to  Washington  until  some  days  after 
Congress  convened  in  its  first  regular  session  in  December. 
Meanwhile  the  people  had  responded  to  the  call  for  troops, 
and  men  had  enlisted  faster  than  arms  could  be  provided 
for  them.  General  Scott  had  retired,  and  General  McClel- 
lan  was  in  chief  command  of  the  army.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  of  the  best  young  men  in  the  land,  en- 
camped in  sight  of  the  capitol,  had  for  months  been  learn- 
ing that  the  cardinal  military  sin  was  to  "guide  left" 
while  passing  in  review.  No  military  movement  of  im- 
portance had  been  made  in  any  part  of  the  country.  The 
people  were  restive  at  the  long  delay.  The  rebellion  was 
growing  stronger,  and  already  there  was  danger  of  foreign 
intervention  in  its  behalf.  With  the  new  year  came  a 
gleam  of  light  from  the  West  in  the  victory  at  Mill 
Springs,  where  George  II.  Thomas  laid  the  corner-stone 
of  his  immortal  fame.  Inspired,  perhaps,  by  this,  and 
having  failed  in  every  efiort  to  persuade  General   McClel- 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.  293 

Ian  to  make  an  offensive  movement,  President  Lincoln,  as 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  l^avy  of  the  United 
States,  issued  on  January  27,  1862,  a  formal  order  direct- 
ing: a  forward  movement  of  all  the  National  forces  on  the 
22d  of  Februarv.  Less  than  three  weeks  later  General 
Grant  sounded  the  key-note  of  his  wonderful  career  in  the 
message  to  the  rebel  commander  at  Fort  Donelson  :  "  No 
terms  will  be  accepted  but  unconditional  and  immediate 
surrender.  I  propose  to  move  immediately  upon  your 
works."  The  capture  of  Fort  Donelson,  followed  in  quick 
succession  by  the  fall  of  New  Madrid,  Island  10,  New  Or- 
leans, and  the  hardly  won  victory  at  Shiloh,  gave  heart 
and  hope  to  the  radical  Union  men  in  Congress,  and  en- 
couraged them  to  renew  the  attack  upon  slavery. 

On  the  23d  of  April,  1862,  Mr.  Cutler  made  a  speech 
upon  a  bill  then  before  the  House,  the  preamble  to  which 
declared  that  slavery  had  caused  the  rebellion,  and  that 
there  could  be  no  permanent  peace  while  it  existed.  In 
this  speech  he  supported  these  propositions  : 

First.  It  is  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  destroy 
every  enemy  that  threatens  the  National  life. 

Second.  Slavery  is  such  an  enemy ;  therefore  it  is  the 
right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  destroy  it. 

Mr.  Cutler  received  many  compliments  for  this  speech. 

Gerrit  Smith  wrote :  "  I  rejoice  that  you  were  moved  to 
make  this  eloquent  speech.  Its  freedom  and  breadth  of 
thought  contrast  very  honorably  with  the  servile  and  nar- 
row spirit  in  which  some  members  of  Congress  speak." 

Lydia  Maria  Child  wrote  a  long  letter,  saying  in  it :  "I 
did  not  intend  to  make  such  a  '  preachment,'  as  the  chil- 
dren say.  I  was  involuntarily  led  into  it  by  admiring,  in 
your  speech,  the  combination  of  legal  acuteness  with  clear 
moral  perceptions." 

Hon.  Alphonso  Taft  wrote :  "  I  have  read  your  speech 
with  unqualified  pleasure.  I  sympathize  with  you  entirely. 
.  .  .  If  such  speeches  as  yours  can  not  arouse  Congress 
and  the  government,  we  can  not  hope  for  favorable  ac- 
tion." 

Lewis  Tappan  wrote  :  "  Seldom  is  such  truth  pronounced 


294         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

on  the  floor  of  Congress.  .  .  .  Your  children  and  chil- 
dren's children  will,  I  trust,  read  it  with  exaltation  and 
honest  pride,  and  consider  it  a  rich  inheritance." 

Rev.  George  B.  Cheever  said :  "  I  am  greatly  obliged  by 
your  admirable  speech.  Would  to  God  that  all  the  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  or  a  good  portion  of  them,  could  see  as 
you  do.'' 

Douglas  Putnam  wrote :  "  I  have  read  and  reread  your 
speech.  It  is  worthy  of  you,  and  does  you  credit.  Its 
positions  are  right  and  tenable,  and  I  am  ready  to  indorse 
them  from  beginning  to  end." 

Horace  Greeley,  in  answer  to  a  letter  from  Mr.  Cutler, 
expressing  the  same  views  as  contained  in  the  speech, 
wrote  as  follows : 

''April  28,  1862. 
"■Dear  Sir: — I  think  I  agree  generally  with  what  is  said 
in  your  letter,  though  I  do  not  see  how  slavery  is  to  be 
put  down  unless  some  mode  of  attack  is  agreed  upon. 
Congress  ought  to  have  long  ago  declared  that  the  slaves 
of  every  rebel  who  shall  persist  in  rebellion,  after  a  speci- 
fied future  day,  shall  be  free  whenever  and  wherever  the 
authority  of  the  nation  can  reach  them ;  and  there  should 
be  a  *  War  Order '  issued  forthwith,  offering  instant  free- 
dom to  every  slave  who  shall  escape  from  the  rebels  to  us, 
and  tell  us  what  he  can  of  their  positions  and  strength. 
If  we  were  in  earnest,  such  measures  would  have  been 
taken  long  ago.  But  we  are  not;  we  shuflle  and  trifle  on, 
and  let  the  Union  go  to  ruin.  When  it  is  too  late,  we 
shall  be  thorough  enough.  I  wash  my  hands  of  the  ca- 
lamity which  I  feel  to  be  approaching.     Yours, 

HoKACE  Greeley." 

The  session  closed  July  17th.  Much  had  been  accom- 
plished. Slavery  had  been  abolished  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  prohibited  in  all  territories  held  or  to  be 
acquired.  Ofiicers  of  the  army  were  prohibited  from  re- 
turning fugitives.  Slaves  employed  by  the  rebels  for  mil- 
itary purposes  were  confiscated.  Authority  was  given  to 
the  President  to  call  negroes  into  the  service.     Slaves  of 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.  295 

all  persons  engaged  in  the  rebellion  were  declared  free 
wherever  the  power  of  the  United  States  could  reach  them. 
Everj  authority  necessary  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of 
the  war  was  given  to  the  President.  The  blood,  the  money, 
and  the  credit  of  the  nation  were  placed  at  his  disposal. 

Mr.  Cutler  was  again  nominated  for  Congress  in  the 
summer  of  1862,  in  the  district  composed  of  Washington, 
Athens,  Meigs,  and  Monroe  counties.  The  failure  of  Gen- 
eral McClellan's  campaign  against  Richmond,  the  defeat 
of  Pope  at  Manassas,  and  the  invasion  of  Kentucky  by 
Bragg,  made  a  chapter  of  disasters  in  the  summer  of  1862,* 
that,  together  with  the  absence  of  thousands  of  Union 
voters  in  the  army  (who  were  not  then  permitted  to  vote), 
enabled  the  opponents  of  the  administration  to  carry  Ohio 
in  the  fall  election.  Mr.  Cutler  was  beaten  by  James  R. 
Morris  of  Monroe  county. 

The  President,  when  convinced  that  the  battle  of  An- 
tietam  had  effectuall}'  checked  Lee's  invasion  of  Maryland, 
had  issued   the   famous    Proclamation    of  Emancipation. 


*  During  the  fall  of  1N62,  the  water  in  the  Ohio  river  was  very 
low.  A  danger,  to  which  the  people  living  on  its  banks  were  exposed, 
and  a  curious  fact  concerning  the  winter  of  1806-7,  are  given  in  the 
following  letter  of  Hon.  Thomas  Ewing  to  Mr.  Cutler: 


'& 


"  LxscA^TEii,  November  24,  1862. 
"3i?/  dear  Sir :  .  .  .  The  Ohio  is  low,  and  can  not  rise  until  it  is 
moved  by  the  spring  rains.  The  earth  is  dry  a  foot  and  a  half  deep, 
and  the  recent  long  and  heavy  rain  has  but  moistened  the  surface. 
The  season  is  like  that  of  1806-7,  when  the  winter  closed  on  low 
streams;  they  froze  to  the  bottom,  and  the  springs  ran  over  the  sur- 
face forming  glaciers  near  their  sources.  The  Ohio  was  frozen  to  tlie 
depth  ot  six  teet,  the  ice — forming  an  arch —  did  not  rest  for  support 
on  the  \vat(-r,  Imt  when  the  farmers  cut  it  to  get  water  for  their  cattle 
it  did  not  rise,  but  they  dipped  it,  as  if  from  a  well,  with  a  bucket  at- 
tached to  a  pole.  The  river  will  probably  be  bridged  for  two  months. 
Tell  your  people  to  look  out  for  small  marauding  bands  from  the  other 
shore — horse  thieves  especially — and  if  the  first  band  succeed  they  will 
annoy  you  all  winter.  I  wrote  to  General  Wright.  He  says  he  will 
protect  our  border  against  large  parties,  but  we  must  protect  ourselves 
against  small  robber  bands.  I  am,  very  respectfully,  yours, 

T.    EVVING." 


296         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

General  McClellan  had  been  removed  from  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  General  Burnside  succeeding 
him.  General  Bragg  had  been  forced  to  retreat  from  Ken- 
tucky. Troops  had  come  forward  promptly  to  fill  the  call 
for  three  hundred  thousand  men.  A  brilliant  victory  had 
been  won  by  Rosecrans'  army  at  Corinth.  When  Con- 
gress convened  in  its  last  session  in  December,  1862,  the 
military  situation  was  not  discouraging.*  How  quickly  it 
changed,  and  the  consequent  feeling  of  the  radical  Union 
men  in  Congress,  and  generally  in  Washington  City,  will 
appear  in  the  following  extracts  from  Mr.  Cutler's  diary  in 
the  months  of  December,  1862,  and  January  and  Febru- 
ary, 1863 : 

'-'■  December  16,  1862. — This  is  a  day  of  darkness  and 
peril  to  the  country.  Last  night,  Burnside's  forces,  after 
the  terrible  battle  of  the  13th,  retreated  to  this  side  of  the 
Rappahannock.  The  loss  incurred  in  the  fruitless  attempt 
to  carry  the  works  of  the  enemy  back  of  Fredericksburg 
is  placed  by  current  rumor  at  from  five  to  twenty-five 
thousand  men.  But  the  e:reat  trouble  is  in  the  loss  of  con- 
fidence  in  the  management  of  the  army.  Under  McClel- 
lan, nothing  was  accomplished;  now  Burnside  fails  on  the 
first  trial.     McClellan's  friends  chuckle  and  secretly  re- 


*  It,  however,  appeared  so  to  Americans  abroad.  Noah  L.  Wilson, 
President  of  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  as  reorganized, 
was  in  England  and  France  in  1862,  endeavoring  to  negotiate  a  loan 
for  that  company.  He  wrote  to  Mr.  Cutler  irom  Paris,  14th  November, 
186-2: 

"  By  this  steamer  you  will  receive  the  French  Emperor's  views  as  ex- 
pressed to  Russia  and  England  in  favor  of  asking  an  armistice.  I 
hope  Russia  and  England  will  unite  in  it,  and  that  the  government  of 
the  United  States  will  accede,  on  condition  of  preserving  the  present 
status  precisely:  that  is,  the  blockade  to  continue,  and  the  armies  to 
remain  where  now  encamped.  Then  call  a  convention  of  all  the 
the  states.  I  would  not  agree  to  this,  but  for  the  utter  imbecility  of 
our  government  and  generals.  They  have  frittered  away  our  strength 
and  resources,  and  as  yet  accomplished  but  little.  This  being  the 
case,  there  is  no  use  in  continuing  the  war.  You  do  not  meet  one  man 
in  one  hundred  in  Europe  who  is  not  against  us.  It  is  even  so  with 
Americans  from  the  Northern  States." 

Mr.  Wilson  was  a  staunch  Republican. 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.         297 

joice  over  the  result.  The  opponents  of  the  administra- 
tion are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  break  it  down.  They 
clamor  about  arbitrary  arrests.  They  attack  the  procla- 
mation. They  do  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war.  They  are  intent  upon  dividing 
the  ISTorth  for  the  benefit  of  the  rebels.  A  decisive  victory 
by  Burnside  would  have  put  them  down  and  the  adminis- 
tration up,  but  this  disaster  gives  them  courage  and  must 
weaken  the  administration.  Lincoln,  himself,  seems  to 
have  no  nerve  or  decision  in  dealing  with  great  issues. 

"  We  are  at  sea  and  no  pilot  or  captain.  God  alone  can 
take  care  of  us  and  all  his  ways  seem  to  be  against  us,  and 
to  favor  the  rebels  and  their  allies — the  Democrats.  Truly 
it  is  a  day  of  darkness  and  gloom. 

''■December  19th. — The  rumor  is  that  Seward  has  resigned, 
and  that  other  members  of  the  cabinet  will  do  the  same. 
It  really  seems  as  though  the  ship  of  state  was  going  to 
pieces  in  the  storm.  The  Democrats  cry  [teace  and  com- 
promise, clamor  for  McClellan,  denounce  the  radicals,  do 
every  thing  to  embarrass  the  government.  Judge  Kelley, 
of  Pennsylvania,  made  a  capital  speech  in  the  House  to-day 
in  favor  of  the  Proclamation,  which  is  now  being  attacked 
by  the  Democrats,  in  hopes  the  President  will  not  enforce  it. 

^'January  17th,  1863. — During  the  past  week  we  had  in 
the  House  a  full  exhibition  of  treason  in  Vallandingham's 
speech,  in  which  he  counseled  peace  and  submission  to  the 
rebels.  He  was  well  answered  by  Bingham,  of  Ohio,  and 
Wright,  of  Pennsylvania.  On  the  whole,  I  think  there  is 
a  re-action  against  the  infamous  sympathy  expressed  and 
felt  by  the  opposition  leaders  here  and  elsewhere  over  the 
country.  But  it  is  a  dark  day.  Rosecrans'  dearly  bought 
victory  [Stone's  river]  fails  to  give  relief  or  inspire  confi- 
dence. The  failure  at  Yicksburg  cast  a  deeper  gloom  over 
affairs.  The  feeling  prevails  that  Lincoln  allows  the  policy 
of  the  war  to  be  dictated  by  Seward,  Weed,  and  the  border 
state  men.  He  has  certainly  undertaken  to  carry  on  the 
mighty  enterprise  of  subduing  the  rebellion  by  putting  the 
power  into  the  hands  of  those  who  are  either  hostile  or  in- 
different to  the  war.     The  leading  generals  seem  hitherto 


298        Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Purkcr  Cutler. 

to  have  had  no  lieart  in  the  cause.  I  hope  Burnside  is  true 
and  in  earnest.  Banks  and  McClernand  can  also  be  trusted. 
I  am  afraid  of  Grant.  Rosecrans  does  well  and  seems  in 
earnest.  On  the  whole  the  generals  of  to-day  are  better 
than  six  months  ago,  when  McClellan  and  Bnell  held  the 
East  and  West  in  their  hands. 

"■January  20fh. — Talked  to-day  with  Julian,  of  Indiana, 
in  regard  to  Burnside.  He  says  that  when  down  at  Fal- 
mouth with  the  committee  on  the  conduct  of  the  war,  he 
had  a  private  interview  with  Burnside.  He  believes  him 
to  be  a  loyal,  true  and  earnest  man,  but  he  distrusts  him- 
self, was  unwilling  to  accept  his  present  position.  He  would 
command  a  division  well,  but  did  not  feel  that  he  could  take 
chnrge  of  an  army.  Julian  thinks  that  Burnside  is  truly 
convinced  of  the  necessity  of  destroying  slavery,  and  says 
that  he  has  tried  in  vain  to  inspire  his  fellow  officers  with  a 
cordial  hatred  of  the  system. 

^^ January  21st. — Attended  a  secret  caucus  of  Bepublicans 
last  nio'ht  in  the  committee  rooms  of  invalid  pensions. 
At  a  previous  meeting  various  committees  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  report  on  subjects  for  action. 

''■First. — As  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued  as  to  admitting 
members  elected  to  Cono-ress  from  seceded  states.  The 
feeling  seemed  to  be  to. prevent  the  premature  admission 
of  members  from  those  states  elected  by  authority  of  mili- 
tary governors. 

"  Second. — A  uniform  election  hiw  for  members  of  Con- 
gress. This  was  approved,  but  voting  of  soldiers  disap- 
proved on  the  ground  that  it  would  make  the  army  dan- 
gerous in  elections,  and  of  impracticability.  It  was  as- 
serted that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  drilled  into 
an  anti-Republican  engine,  and  that  not  one  man  in  a 
thousand  in  it  would  vote  for  a  Republican  (which  I  don't 
believe) ;  that  large  numbers  of  the  Herald  and  World 
were  circulated  gratuitously  among  the  soldiers,  while 
other  papers  were  practically  excluded. 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  report  upon  measures 
proper  for  a  more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  asked 
that  the  injunction  of  secrecy  be  removed,  so  that  they 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.       299 

could  communicate  with  the  President  and  heads  of  de- 
partments.    Mr, urged  that  all  action  should  be  in 

the  house  as  members.     Mr. thought  it  proper  to 

bring  influence  to  bear,  and  if  that  failed  to  move  the 
President,  then  to  act  in  Congress ;  so  did ,  of  Illi- 
nois.    Mr.  [of  New  England]  said  there  was  no 

hope,  except  in  change  of  cabinet;  that  it  was  notorious 
that  there  was  no  union  of  sentiment  or  feeling  among 
them;  that  one  member  would  call  another 'Billy  Bow- 
legs,' and  another  the  'Black-nosed  Terrier;'  that  they 
were  the  fag-ends  of  the  Chicago  Convention  —  disap- 
pointed aspirants  for  the  presidency  ;  that  Lincoln  had 
honesty,  which  might  save  him,  but  could  not  alone  save 
the  nation  ;  that  our  hope  of  success  was  about  equal  as 
to  certainty  as  the  destruction  of  a  tree  by  lightning,  as 
compared  with  the  use  of  proper  means.  He  confessed  to 
a  stray  hope  down  in  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  yet,  as  mat- 
ters stood,  the  cause  was  about  hopeless.     Mr. said 

he  had  become  satisfied  long  ago  that  McClellan  was  a 
failure,  and  that  immediately  after  the  evacuation  of  Ma- 
nassas by  the  rebels,  leaving  their  wooden  guns,  he  drew 
up  a  resolution  to  offer  in  the  house,  asking  the  President 
to  relieve  McClellan  of  command,  and  that  he  was  pre- 
vented from  offering  it  by  another  member.  He  asserted 
that  after  McClellan  had  returned  from  the  Peninsula,  and 
was  at  Alexandria  on  a  vessel,  he  was  visited  by  an  officer 
on  board  the  ship,  and  for  three  hours  urged  to  go  to  the 
relief  of  Pope,  but  he  replied  there  were  too  many  men 

there— meaning  the    enemy.     Mr. stated  that  he 

went  to  the  committee  on  the  conduct  of  the  war,  and 
found  that  its  members  did  not  know  of  the  resolution, 
and  that  he  opposed  it  because  he  thought  it  would  not 

carry,  and  the  effort  would  do  harm.     Mr. said  that 

in  a  conversation  Avith  two  officers  of  high  rank,  after  the 
battle  of  Fredericksburg,  they  stated  that  Burnside  had 
but  two  alternatives — one  was  to  cross  at  that  place ;  the 
other  was  a  worse  one ;  and  that  although  Burnside  had 
assumed  the  responsibility  it  was  under  that  state  of 
things.      These    officers    were    severe    on    Halleck,    and 


300        Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

thought  there  should  he  no  commander-in-chief  until  some 
man  arose  out  of  the  war  entirely  superior  to  all  others, 
which  had  not  yet  taken  place. 

"  It  was  stated  by  some  one  tliat  a  mob  in  j^ew  York 
city  might  he  looked  for  any  time.  This  was  denied  by  a 
member  from  New  York. 

^'January  24^A. — Called  at  AVillard's  hotel,  and  had  an 
interview  with  Mr.  Bradley  and  Mr.  Markley,  of  the  Cam- 
den and  Amboy  Railroad  lines,  in  regard  to  the  Ohio  river 
bridge  at  Parkersburg.  They  appeared  to  be  quite  ignorant 
of  our  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad  route,  but  became 
interested  when  its  value  had  been  explained.  My  object 
is  to  get  a  through  equipment  that  will  extend  from  Jersey 
City  to  Cincinnati.  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  to  get  an 
Ohio  river  bridge  up  next  season.  Garrett  is  very  slow  to 
move — is  evidently  afraid  of  the  future — is  surrounded 
with  Democratic-Secesh  politicians,  who  have  no  f\iith  in 
any  thing  except  the  divinity  of  slavery — who  till  his  mind 
with  fears  of  the  future.  I  think  he  is  really  desirous  to 
build  up  our  line,  and  willing  to  aid  in  the  bridge.  Felton 
and  Parker,  of  Philadelphia,  Wilmington  and  Baltimore 
Railroad  are  quite  friendly  and  interested,  will  help  the 
thing  along  all  they  can. 

'■'•January  26th. — To-day  it  is  said  that  Burnside  has  been 
relieved  at  his  own  request,  and  Hooker  put  in  his  place. 
The  late  movement  was  thwarted  bv  the  s-reat  storm,  which 

I/O  ' 

came  on  just  as  the  army  started.  To  human  vision  all  is 
dark,  and  it  would  almost  seem  that  God  works  for  the 
rebels  and  keeps  alive  their  cause.  Our  Potomac  army  is 
so  far  a  failure,  and  seems  to  be  demoralized  by  the  political 
influences  that  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  It  may 
be  doubted,  whether  they  would  succeed  even  with  a  good 
general.  All  is  confusion  and  doubt.  Still  out  of  all  this 
God  is  able,  and  I  trust  willing  to  bring  the  nation  into 
purer  light  and  permanent  peace.  But  how  striking  the 
want  of  a  leader.  The  nation  is  without  a  head.  Is  not 
this  state  of  things,  a  forerunner  and  preparation  for  the 
coming  of  him  whose  right  it  is  to  reign.     All  faith  and 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of   William   Parker  Cutler.       301 

confidence  in  every  body  seems  to  give  way.  Wliy  not 
look  up  for  him  who  is  to  '  come  quickly  '  ? 

'■^January  2.1  th,  1863. — Attended  another  meeting  of  the 

Republican  caucus.     Mr. reported  that  his  committee 

could  see  no  way  to  infuse  greater  vigor  into  the  adminis- 
tration, and  asked  to  be  discharged.  The  question  of  cir- 
culating newspapers  among  the  soldiers  came  up.       Mr. 

reported  that  the  committee  had  devised  no  plan  for 

circulating  papers.     Mr. suggested  that  each  member 

should  send  papers  to  his  friends  in  the  army.     Mr.  

urged  the  importance  of  inore  decided  effort.     Mr.  

thought  that  all  the  trouble  was  with  the  cabinet,  and  gave 
notice  that  he  would,  at  next  meeting  of  the  caucus,  move 
a  resolution  of  want  of  confidence  in. the  cabinet.  Another 
member  proposed  to  go  further  and  agree  upon  a  new 
cabinet,  and  propose  it  to  the  President,  and  claimed  that 
•we  could  agree  upon  one — said  that  three-quarters  to  two- 
thirds  of  the  Republicans  would  unite  upon  Banks,  Grow 

and  Chase  for  the  new  cabinet.     M. said  that  this  was 

nothing  more  or  less  than  appointing  a  committee  of  safety, 
really  taking  matters  out  of  the  hands  of  the  President — 
he  was  not  prepared  to  go  outside  of  constitutional  limits. 

Mr. said  he  did  not  propose  to  name  a  new  cabinet — 

leave  that  to  the  President.  A  western  member  said  all 
our  trouble  arose  not  from  the  President,  but  from  hasty 
and  radical  action  of  Congress  in  passing  emancipation  and 
confiscation  acts — that  these  had  produced  divisions  at  the 
IS'orth  and  driven  Democrats  away  from  us — that  slavery 
would  have  died  out,  etc.  Another  said  that  if  the  Presi- 
dent had  let  Fremont  alone,  the  country  would  have  sus- 
tained him.  He  also  stated  that  persons  in  this  city  were 
retained  in  office,  who  were  notoriously  disloyal,  and  that 
Lincoln  assigned  as  a  reason  the  necessity  of  conciliating 
them.  He  also  stated  that  a  member  present  had  a  brother, 
who  sympathized  with  the  rebels,  retained  in  the  Interior 
Department.  This  member  denied  that  he  had  asked  to 
have  his  brother  retained — said  to  the  Secretary,  that  if 
Democrats  were  to  be  retained  he  wanted  his  brother.  Mr, 
stated  that  the  great  difficulty  was  in  holding  the 


302        Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William-  Parker  Cutler. 

President  to  any  tiling.  He  prided  himself  on  having  a 
divided  cabinet,  so  that  he  could  play  one  against  the  other 
— that  Stanton  had  lost  his  power  by  being  overridden  so 
often — that  he  ought  to  have  oft'ered  his  resignation  at  first 
— but  it  would  not  do  now.  So  the  upshot  of  the  matter  is 
that  confusion  is  worse  confounded — no  one  seems  to  have 
confidence  in  any  body  or  any  thing.  The  earnest  men  are 
brought  to  a  dead-lock  by  the  President.  The  President 
is  tri[)ped  up  by  his  generals,  who  for  the  most  part  seem 
to  have  no  heart  in  their  work.  It  is  now  rumored  tiiat 
Franklin  failed  to  support  Meade  on  the  left  at  Fredericks- 
burg, or  we  should  have  had  a  victory.  God  alone  can 
guide  us  through  this  terrible  time  of  doubt,  uncertainty, 
treachery,  imbecility  and  infidelity.  The  poor  may  have 
some  faith  in  God,  but  there  seems  but  little  of  it  here. 
Stevens  jokingly  remarked  tliat  he  thought  there  was  a 
God,  when  he  was  as  young  as  Kellogg,  of  Michigan  (who 
said  we  should  remember  him,  etc.)  but  he  had  given  it  up 
lately.  That  is  the  feeling  now,  that  God  favors  the 
rebels.     Let  us  wait  and  see  which  side  he  is  on. 

"■February  2d. — After  a  long  contest  over  Mr.  Stevens' 
bill  to  raise  negro  regiments,  it  finally  passed  to-day,  83  to 
54.  The  Democrats  seemed  determined  to  make  capital 
out  of  the  idea  of  putting  a  negro  on  an  equality  with  the 
white  man  by  making  him  a  soldier.  They  have  used  ev- 
ery eftbrt  to  rouse  up  the  worst  prejudices  of  the  army  and 
the  people,  and  seem  to  glory  and  exult  in  the  oppor- 
tunity to  degrade  and  tread  down  God's  image  in  the  per- 
son of  the  negro.  Surely,  there  is  no  solution  of  the  ter- 
rible complications  of  our  situation,  except  in  the  power 
and  strong  arm  of  God  himself.  The  Democrats  claim  a 
a  strong  reaction  in  their  favor,  and  seem  intent  only  upon 
increasing  the  universal  dissatisfaction,  and  turning  it  all 
to  their  own  account  in  building  up  a  peace  party.  Po- 
litical demagogues  rule  the  hour.  The  people  are  bewil- 
dered and  in  a  fog.  The  true  friends  of  the  government 
and  of  the  great  principles  which  underlie  the  contest  are 
groping  around  without  a  leader — absolutely  no  one  to 
command    entire    confidence — and   yet   progress  is  being 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.         803 

made  daily.  This  vote  is  a  recognition  of  the  negroes* 
manhood,  such  as  has  never  before  been  made  by  this  na- 
tion. We  say  in  this  liour  of  peril :  Come  and  save  us. 
'  Our  God  is  marching  on.' 

^'February  1th,  I860. — Attended  meeting  of  Republican 
caucus.  The  circulation  of  loyal  and  the  prohibition  of 
disloyal  papers  in  the  army  was  the  subject  of  conversa- 
tion. It  was  stated  that  the  'Herald'  circulated  7,000 
copies.  The  committee  who  had  been  appointed  to  wait 
upon  the  Secretary  of  War  reported  two  resolutions  pro- 
posed to  be  adopted  as  articles  of  war,  giving  authority  to 
suppress  any  papers  giving  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemy, 
and  to  punish  the  proprietor,  and  sell  his  press.  It  was 
decided  to  refer  this  to  three  members,  to  confer  with  the 
Senate  committee,  who  have  a  similar  measure  nnder  con- 
sideration. 

"Judge  Kelly  stated  that  Hooker  was  quite  desirous  to 
exclude  the  treasonable  papers,  and  tluit  he  was  taking 
hold  of  the  army  with  spirit. 

'■'■February  9th. — Called  this  morning  on  President  Lin- 
coln to  present  him  a  petition  signed  by  some  thirty  mem- 
bers of  Congress  asking  him  to  appoint  Captain  Carpen- 
ter, of  the  Jessie  Scouts,  colonel  of  one  of  the  negro  regi- 
ments, in  case  the  bill  passes  the  Senate.  He  said  the 
great  difficulty  he  feared  was  the  treatment  the  negroes 
would  receive  from  the  rebels  if  captured.  I  replied  that 
it  was  the  more  importiint  that  the  regiments  should  be 
well  officered,  so  as  to  be  able  to  protect  themselves  from 
capture.  He  quickly  assented,  but  added  that  he  was 
troubled  to  know  what  we  should  do  with  these  people — 
the  negroes — after  peace  came.  I  replied  that  interest 
would  settle  that  question.  The  same  plantations  that 
need  their  labor  now  will  need  it  then.  If  the  land  owners 
can  not  get  negro  labor  for  nothing,  they  will  pay  for  it. 
He  answered :  '  Whatever  you  and  I  may  think  of  these 
things,  people's  opinions  are  every  thing.' 

"  Washburne,  of  Illinois,  was  in  the  room,  and  read  a 
letter  from  General  Grant,  dated  near  Vicksburg,  January 
29th.     In  it  he  said  that  the  canal  cut  there  was  onlv  nine 


304         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

feet  wide  at  the  top,  and  of  course  was  of  no  value.  He  was 
trying  a  larger  one,  but  thought  he  could  take  the  place 
by  getting  a  channel  through  into  the  Yazoo  from  the 
Mississippi  side.     The  river  was  then  l)ank  full." 

These  extracts  vividly  portray  the  feelings  of  the  majority 
of  the  Republican  members  of  Congress  at  that  time. 
Subsequent  events  modihed  Mr.  Cutler's  views,  and  when 
urged,  early  in  1864,  to  joiii  the  movement  to  make  Sec- 
retary Chase  the  nominee  for  President,  he  declined,  say- 
ing that  he  believed  that  no  one  could  take  the  place  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  now  that  he  had  apparently  found  in  General 
Grant  one  who  was  competent  to  command  the  army. 
Abraham  Lincoln's  fame  rests  upon  the  eternal  foundation 
of  results.  It  is  none  the  less  true,  that  from  the  begin- 
nins:  to  the  end  of  his  administration  he  was  never  in  cor- 
dial  sympathy  with  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  in 
Congress. 

Mr.  Cutler  was  never  again  a  candidate  for  office,  although 
he  took  part  as  a  speaker  in  every  subsequent  political  cam- 
paign during  his  life.  He  was  not  a  successful  politician. 
Whenever  placed  in  nomination  by  his  party  it  was  because 
of  a  belief  in  his  fitness  for  the  office,  and  in  spite  of  his 
unwillingness  to  "  make  interest,"  as  he  used  to  express  it. 

Except  in  1842,  he  always  received  the  full  party  vote  in 
Washington  county,  and  usually  led  the  ticket. 

In  July,  1863,  while  the  people  of  Ohio  were  yet  rejoic- 
ing over  the  victories  of  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg,  they 
were  startled  with  the  news  that  the  rebel  general,  John 
Morgan,  at  the  head  of  a  large  force  of  cavalry,  was  riding 
at  will  through  the  southern  portion  of  the  state.  Gov- 
ernor Tod  assembled  the  militia  of  Southern  Ohio  in  camps 
at  Portsmouth,  Chillicothe,  and  Marietta.  Most  of  them 
were  without  arms,  and  were  worse  than  useless.  On  July 
18th  Mr.  Cutler  was  in  Marietta,  when  Colonel  William  R. 
Putnam,  commanding  the  camp  there,  received  a  telegram 
from  General  J.  D.  Cox,  as  follows:  "Please  see  that  at 
all  points  between  Athens  and  Marietta  the  people  block- 
ade the  roads,  so  that  Morgan  can  not  dodge  north  be- 
tween those  places.     This  is  very  important ;  no  gap  must 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.        305 

be  left ;  there  is  abundant  force  around  him,  if  this  is 
done,"  On  seeing  this  telegram,  Mr.  Cutler  wrote  Colonel 
Putnam :  "  I  understand  that  General  Cox  wislies  the 
roads  leadino-  across  the  track  of  the  M.  &  C.  railroad  to 
be  obstructed.  This  work  can  be  accomplished  well  by 
the  railroad  employes  who  are  under  my  control.  If  you 
wish,  I  will  take  charge  and  execute  it."  Colonel  Putnam 
directed  him  to  proceed  with  the  work.  Two  companies 
of  Athens  county  militia,  under  Captains  Holmes  and 
Grewell,  were  ordered  to  report  to  him.  Arriving  at  Big 
Run  with  them  on  a  special  train,  he  found  Captains 
Waugh  and  Maxwell's  companies  of  Morgan  county,  and 
Captain  Doe,  of  Athens  county,  who  also  placed  them- 
selves under  his  command.  A  corps  of  sixty  mounted 
scouts  was  organized  and  sent  to  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Morgan's  movements,  with  orders  to  report  hourly. 
So  vigorously  was  the  work  of  blockading  pushed,  that 
on  the  morning  of  the  19th  Mr.  Cutler  telegraphed  that 
ten  miles  in  width  of  territory  was  thoroughly  blockaded, 
and  on  the  same  night  that  the  work  was  complete.  His 
scouts  brought  him  accurate  information,  and  enabled  him 
to  send  to  Colonel  B.  P.  Punkle,  then  commanding  the 
camp  at  Marietta,  the  first  news  of  Morgan's  defeat  at 
Buffington.  Those  of  Morgan's  men  who  escaped  at  Buf- 
fington  did  not  attempt  to  cross  the  railroad  between  Ath- 
ens and  Marietta,  but  went  far  west  to  Vinton  station. 
Returning  home  on  the  20th,  Mr.  Cutler  was  surprised  to 
find  that  a  regiment  of  militia  had  been  encamped  about 
his  house,  and  that  two  lines  of  rifle  pits  adorned  his 
meadow. 

In  the  political  campaigns  of  1863  and  1864  he  made 
many  speeches  in  Washington  and  adjacent  counties.  The 
intense  feeling  then  existing  is  illustrated  in  the  fact  that 
he  was  twice  shot  at  when  returning  from  political  meet- 
ings in  remote  districts,  and  received  numbers  of  anony- 
mous letters,  threatening  his  life,  if  he  persisted  in  making 
"  abolition  speeches."  He  paid  no  attention  to  these 
attacks  and  threats,  believing  that  if  it  was  really  intended 
20 


306         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

to  assassinate  him,  no  amount  of  precaution  on  his  part 
could  prevent  it,  and  determined  that  if  it  was  only  meant 
to  frighten  him  from  what  he  believed  to  be  the  path  ot 
duty,  it  should  not  succeed. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1865,  the  people  of  Ohio  assem- 
bled in  the  churches,  in  obedience  to  the  proclamation  of 
the  governor,  to  give  thanks  for  the  great  victories  at 
Richmond  and  Petersburg,  and  for  the  peace  which  the 
surrender  of  Lee's  army  and  the  triumphant  march  of 
Sherman's  column  through  the  Carolinas  made  certain. 
Of  the  meeting  in  Mr.  Cutler's  neighborhood,  one  who  was 
present  wrote  the  following  account:  "The  church  was 
decorated  with  flags  and  flowers.  Over  the  pulpit  was  the 
motto,  worked  in  evergreen  :  '  Thanks  be  to  God,  who 
giveth  us  the  victory.'  Mr.  Judson  HoUister  presided,  and 
made  a  patriotic  and  appropriate  speech.  After  praj^er 
and  singing,  refreshments  were  served.  Mr.  Cutler  was 
then  called  upon,  and  spoke  in  his  happiest  manner.  He 
said  that  he  rejoiced  not  only  that  the  war  was  substan- 
tially over,  but  in  the  triumph  of  correct  principles  ;  in  the 
recognition  of  the  right  of  the  colored  man  to  life  and 
liberty — in  the  fact  that  we  had  a  government  able  to 
maintain  its  authority,  and  that  we  had  a  God.  He  be- 
lieved that  our  government  would  stand  until  God  estab- 
lished  his  own  kingdom  on  the  earth.  These  were  some 
of  his  ideas.  His  speech  was  much  applauded.  After  it 
was  dark,  there  was  a  great  line  of  bonfires  on  the  three 
hills  back  of  Mr.  Cutler's  house.  All  the  houses  in  the 
neighborhood  were  illuminated,  and  everybody  made  a 
noise,  and  the  first  words  on  everybody's  lips  were  :  '  Now 
the  boys  will  come  home.' " 

Mr.  Cutler  was  elected  a  member  of  the  first  board  of 
directors  of  the  reorganized  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Rail- 
road Company,  in  1860,  and  was  soon  after  chosen  its  vice- 
president.  While  in  Congress  he  was  principally  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  passage  of  the  bill  authorizing  the 
construction  of  the  railroad  bridge  at  Parkersburg.  The 
reorganized  company  issued  first  mortgage  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  $3,500,000.     This,  according  to  the  estimate  of 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.        307 

Mr.  John  Waddle,  the  chief  engineer,  was  sufficient,  at 
prices  ruling  in  18G1,  to  complete  and  thoroughly  equip 
the  road  from  Belpre  to  Loveland,  replacing  all  trestle 
work  with  trussed  bridges,  stone  culverts  or  earth  embank- 
ments, to  build  a  line  from  Loveland  to  Cincinnati,  and 
from  Leesburg  to  Dayton.  The  condition  of  public  af- 
fairs made  it  impossible  to  negotiate  any  considerable  por- 
tion of  these  bonds  until  1863.  Before  the  work  of  con- 
struction and  reconstruction  was  fairly  under  way,  prices 
for  labor  and  material  had  almost  doubled.  It  was  found 
necessary  to  expend  one  million  of  dollars  for  new  equip- 
ment and  for  real  estate  on  the  Cincinnati  extension.  It 
soon  became  evident  that  the  proceeds  of  the  bonds  Avould 
not  accomplish  all  that  was  expected.  Mr.  Cutler,  at  the 
close  of  his  term  in  Congress,  intended  to  sever  his  con- 
nection with  the  railroad  and  devote  himself  to  his  family, 
his  farm,  and  his  books.  At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the 
directors  of  the  company,  he  finally  agreed  to  take  the 
immediate  oversis-ht  of  the  work  of  construction.     Mr. 

CD 

Wilson,  the  president  of  the  company,  having  removed  to 
New  York  in  18C4,  the  active  charge  of  the  local  affairs 
of  the  road  devolved  upon  Mr.  Cutler.  ]N"otwithstanding 
the  commanding  position  of  the  road,  in  furnishing  the 
shortest  route  from  Cincinnati  to  the  seaboard,  all  efforts 
to  build  up  a  profitable  through  business  for  it,  proved  un- 
availing because  of  the  lack  of  co-operation  of  its  only 
connecting  line  to  the  east.  An  increase  of  earnings  was 
essential  to  financial  success,  and  could  only  be  secured  by 
a  development  of  traffic  from  local  sources.  The  efibrts 
made  resulted  in  an  increase  of  over  fifty  per  cent  in  rev- 
enue from  local  freight  in  the  years  from  1864  to  1868. 
His  plans  for  its  future  development,  as  shown  by  his  re- 
ports and  correspondence,  were  to  secure  for  the  company 
tracts  of  coal  land  on  and  adjacent  to  the  road  ;  to  build 
a  branch  from  Mineral  City  to  the  heart  of  the  Hocking 
Valley  coal  field,  near  Nelson vi lie,  and,  ultimately,  to 
Straitsville ;  to  build  from  the  present  site  of  Wellston  to 
Gallipolis  and  Pomeroy  ;  to  extend  to  Dayton  from  Lees- 
burg ;  to  Ironton  from   Bloom  Switch,  and  to  Wheeling 


808         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

from  Marietta.  This  would  have  given  the  Marietta  and 
Cincinnati  Raih'oad  an  almost  absolute  control  of  the  min- 
eral fields  and  manufacturing  cities  of  southern  Ohio, 
whose  traffic  now  supports  the  Scioto  Valley,  the  Ohio 
Southern,  the  Dayton,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago,  the  Ka- 
nawha and  Ohio,  the  Toledo  and  Ohio  Central  extension, 
and  the  Ohio  and  AVest  Virginia  division  of  the  Columbus, 
Hocking  A'alley  and  Toledo  Railroads.  The  fact  that 
these  six  roads  have  been  built  sufficiently  vindicates  the 
wisdom  of  Mr.  Cutler's  })olicy. 

The  ill-health  and  death,  in  1867,  of  Mr.  "Wilson,  his 
business  difficulties  and  the  embarrassment  of  his  succes- 
sor in  the  financial  management  of  the  company,  caused  its 
control  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad.  It  was  thought  to  be  the  interest  of  that  com- 
pany to  use  the  Marietta  line  for  through  business  only. 
The  result  of  this  policy  is  shown  in  the  construction  of 
competing  lines  to  every  principal  point  reached  by  the 
Marietta  road  and  in  the  fact  that  the  Marietta  company — 
now  known  as  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  South-western — has 
just  passed  from  the  hands  of  a  receiver  for  the  third  time 
in  its  history. 

Mr.  Cutler's  connection  with  the  road  terminated  in 
1868.  AVhile  investigating  the  coal  veins  in  Athens  and 
Vinton  counties,  he  became  one  of  the  prime  movers  in 
the  Columbus  and  Hocking  Valley  Railroad.  Of  its  or- 
ganization and  his  connection  with  it,  the  Hon  E.  H. 
Moore,  of  Athens,  .writes  the  following  interesting  ac- 
count : 

^'■Dear  Sir : — In  answer  to  your  incpiiry  in  regard  to  Hon. 
Wm.  P.  Cutler's  connection  with  the  projection  of  the 
Columbus  and  Hocking  Valley  Railroad,  permit  me  to 
state  briefly,  that  in  the  winter  of  1863-64,  at  a  meeting 
of  the  directors  of  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad, 
held  in  Chillicothe,  Mr.  Cutler,  as  vice-president,  in  his  re- 
port to  the  board,  dwelt  largely  on  the  prospect  of  coal  as 
an  important  item  of  freight  for  his  road.  Coal  had  been 
very  dear  and  scarce  in  Cincinnati  and  along  the  line  of 
the  road  for  one  or  two  winters  previous. 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William.  Parker  Cutler.         309 

"  I  suggested  to  Mr.  Cutler  that  the  supply  along  the  line 
of  the  road  was  limited  and  that  the  seams  of  coal  were 
thin  and  unreliable,  but  that  along  the  Hocking  river,  near 
N'elsonville,  were  extensive  deposits  of  coal  six  to  eight 
feet  in  thickness,  of  superior  quality.  He  seemed  deeply 
interested,  and  said  he  would  like  to  visit  these  mines.  A 
very  few  days  after  I  received  a  telegram  from  him  to  se- 
cure transportation  and  invite  Mr.  M.  M.  Green,  then  a 
citizen  of  Athens,  to  accompany  us.  We  went  up  the 
Hocking  valley  to  Meeker's  run,  one  and  a  half  miles  be- 
low Nelsonville,  followed  up  the  south  branch  about  one 
mile  to  where  the  coal  showed  a  face  of  seven  feet.  We 
then  passed  up  the  west  branch  of  Meeker's  to  opposite 
Nelsonville,  and  over  a  ridge  to  mines  operated  exten- 
sively by  W.  13.  Brooks,  of  Columbus.  Mr.  Cutler  was 
astonished,  a  six-footer,  to  enter  a  mine  erect.  The  coal 
was  of  a  very  fine  quality.  AVe  put  up  at  Xelsonville 
over  night.  The  next  day  we  went  up  to  the  Dorrs  run 
mine,  over  the  bridge  to  Monday  creek,  down  the  creek 
to  its  mouth,  examining  the  coal  along  the  streams. 
Mr.  Cutler  was  very  enthusiastic ;  dwelt  largely  upon  the 
future  of  the  Hocking  valley ;  predicted  an  enormous  de- 
mand in  the  near  future  for  its  latent  fuel,  and  that  a 
railroad  leading  out  of  the  valley  would  most  assuredly  be 
a  success,  as  the  demand  would  be  unlimited. 

"  Mr.  Cutler  proposed  to  Mr.  Green  and  myself  that 
with  two  or  three  friends  of  his  who  would  join  us,  we 
purchase  two  thousand  acres  of  the  best  of  these  coal 
lands.  With  this  land  as  a  basis,  he  could  build  a  road 
to  Athens,  connecting  with  the  M.  k,  C.  When  finished, 
the  road  could  be  operated  or  leased  to  pay  a  fair  dividend 
on  its  cost.  On  his  return  to  Marietta,  he  was  joined  by 
Douglas  Putnam  and  Colonel  John  Mills.  I  was  delegated 
to  make  the  purchase.  Meeker  run  was  selected  as  the 
field.  I  was  not  long  in  securing  the  requisite  amount  of 
land.  We  filed  our  certificate  of  incorporation  :  W.  P. 
Cutler,  Douglas  Putnam,  M.  M.  Green,  John  Mills,  and  E. 
H.  Moore,  incorporators ;  termini,  Athens  and  Columbus, 
O.;  capital  stock,  $500,000.     AVe  each  subscribed  $10,000, 


310         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

and  were  proceeding  to  organize,  when  W.  C  Brooks,  the 
most  extensive  miner  and  shipper  in  tlie  valley,  called  on 
us  with  a  request  that  we  meet  Columbus  parties,  to  con- 
sult upon  the  propriety  of  extending  the  road  to  Colum- 
bus. Messrs.  Cutler  and  Green  met  a  committee  consist- 
ing of  Wm.  Dennison,  W.  B.  Brooks,  W.  G.  Deshler, 
Wm.  Hayden,  Theodore  Comstoek,  and  others.  The  re- 
sult of  the  conference  was  the  pledge  of  a  sum  of  money 
sufiicient  to  pay  the  expense  of  a  preliminary  survey, 
which  was  ordered.  A  skillful  engineer  was  employed, 
who  at- once  entered  upon  his  work  and  in  a  very  short 
time  prepared  his  report. 

"A  meeting  was  called  at  which  a  large  number  of  active 
business  men  of  Columbus  attended  in  addition  to  those 
who  attended  the  former  meeting.  The  report  of  the 
engineer  was  very  satisfactory,  showing  easy  grades  and 
curves,  and  cheap  construction.  Mr.  Cutler,  in  his  usual 
plain,  unassuming,  convincing  manner,  addressed  the 
meeting,  dwelt  at  large  upon  the  route  selected  as  being 
the  best  possible  outlet  to  the  exhaustless  coal  fields  of 
the  Hocking  valley,  and  the  enormous  amount  of  freight 
the  road  would  be  capable  of  transporting.  He  said  that 
the  demand  for  fuel  in  the  West,  ISTorth-west,  and  i^ortli 
would  be  equal  to  the  capacity  of  the  road.  That  the  ad- 
vantages to  Columbus  would  be  very  great,  furnishing 
cheap  fuel,  stimulating  manufactures  of  all  kinds,  and  that 
in  less  than  twenty  years  the  capital  and  population  of 
Columbus  would  be  tripled.  So  convincing  were  his  ar- 
guments that  it  was  resolved  to  construct  the  road  at  once 
from  Columbus  to  Athens.  Books  of  subscription  were 
opened.  Mr.  W.  B.  Brooks,  the  most  extensive  coal  ope- 
rator of  the  valley,  subscribed  ^10,000 ;  others  followed 
with  liberal  sums.  The  organization  was  soon  thereafter 
completed.  On  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Cutler,  Mr. 
M.  M.  Green,  who  ha<l  had  large  experience  in  railroad 
construction,  was  selected  as  president  and  general  man- 
ager, and  at  once  entered  upon  his  duties. 

"  The  road  was  opened  for  tratiic  to  Lancaster,  Logan, 
Nelsonville,  and  Athens  in  July,  1870. 


iSketch  of  the  Life  of  William   Parker  Cutler.  311 

"  The  history  of  the  Columbus  and  Hocking  Valley  Rail- 
road, from  Columbus  to  Athens,  is  one  of  unparalleled 
success.  From  the  day  it  was  completed  to  i^elsonville, 
mining  and  shipping  of  coal  increased  with  astonishing 
rapidity. 

"  It  not  only  supplies  the  local  demand  along  its  lines, 
the  railroads  diverging  from  Columbus,  but  the  upper 
lakes,  the  Canadian  border,  the  West  and  Xorth-west. 
The  demand  and  supply  is  simply  enormous. 

"For  a  short  time  the  stock  was  sold  under  par,  but 
soon  took  rank  among  the  best  paying  stocks  in  the  state. 
In  1881  the  stock  commanded  a  premium  of  eighty  per 
cent. 

"During  the  last  twenty  years,  since  the  completion  of 
this  road,  the  towns  and  villages  along  its  lines  have  made 
rapid  advancement  in  manufactures  and  substantial  im- 
provements of  all  kinds.  But  the  most  notable  is  the  city 
of  Columbus,  which  has  more  than  tripled  its  manufac- 
tures, its  wealth  and  population,  verifying  in  the  highest 
degree  the  foresight  and  good  judgment  of  the  Hon.  Wm. 
P.  Cutler,  one  of  Ohio's  noblemen,  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  the  early  ■projection  of  the  Columbus  and  Hocking 
Valley  Railroad. 

"  Yery  respectfully,  E.  H.  Moore. 

"Athens,  O.,  March  1,  1890." 

In  1868,  Mr.  Cutler  was  elected  president  of  the  newly 
oro:anized  Marietta  and  Pittsbura^  Railroad.  He  continued 
in  this  position  until  1872,  and  rendered  valuable  aid  in 
securing  its  construction.  He  was  succeeded  by  Gen.  A. 
J.  Warner,  the  contractor  who  built  the  road,  and  who, 
with  remarkable  ability  and  energy,  carried  it  safely 
through  the  panic  of  1873,  and  completed  it  to  Canal 
Dover. 

From  1869  to  1873,  Mr.  Cutler  was  principally  engaged 
as  a  contractor  in  building  railroads  in  Illinois  and  In- 
diana. The  panic  of  1873,  which  swept  over  the  country 
like  a  whirlwind  of  tire,  found  him  and  his  associates  car- 
rying heavy  loans,  and  with  much   unfinished  work,  and 


312       Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

destroyed  the  value  of  their  securities.  He  gave  up  all  of 
his  property,  and  at  the  age  of  sixty-one,  without  money 
or  credit,  and  realizing  that  a  short  span  of  life  was  left  to 
him,  commenced  business  life  anew. 

In  the  year  1878,  the  management  of  the  Marietta  and 
Cincinnati  Railroad  having  secured  the  construction  of  the 
Baltimore  Short  Line,  thirty  miles  long,  down  the  Hocking 
valley  from  Warrens  Station,  saving  ten  miles  in  the  dis- 
tance from  Cincinnati  to  Parkersburs;,  and  having  leased 
it  for  an  annual  rental  of  $153,000,  abandoned  the  thirty- 
five  miles  of  its  road  from  Warrens  to  Scott's  Landing. 
The  citizens  of  Washington  county  were  left  with  three 
miles  of  railroad  between  Marietta  and  Scott's  Landing  to 
show  for  an  investment  of  over  three-quarters  of  a  million 
dollars  in  the  stock  and  securities  of  the  Marietta  and  Cin- 
cinnati Railroad.  Every  dollar  of  this  was  worthless, 
largel}^  because  of  the  burden  on  the  finances  of  the  com- 
pany caused  by  the  lease  of  the  Baltimore  Short  Line. 
The  abandoned  road  was  located  in  accordance  with  an 
agreement  with  the  original  company,  solemnly  reaflirmed 
when  it  was  reorganized  in  1860.  Good  or  bad,  its  loca- 
tion secured  for  the  company  subscriptions  to  its  stock  of 
over  fifteen  hundred  thousand  dollars.  These  subscrip- 
tions enabled  it  to  sell  its  bonds  and  build  its  road.  The 
defects  in  its  construction  could  have  been  removed,  its 
grades  reduced  to  the  maximum  adopted  on  the  Baltimore 
Short  Line,  its  tunnels  securely  arched,  its  trestles  replaced 
with  earth,  iron,  or  stone,  according  to  the  estimate  of 
Mr.  Waddle,  for  one-fourth  the  cost  of  the  new  line. 
Seven  prosperous  villages  had  built  up  along  it.  The  de- 
preciation in  values  of  real  property  in  Washington  county 
because  of  tlie  stoppage  of  trains  was  estimated  at  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  A  railroad  company  was  or- 
ganized, of  which  Mr.  Cutler  was  made  president,  and  per- 
mission was  sought  to  repair  and  operate  it.  This,  for 
reasons  impossible  to  understand,  was  bitterly  opposed  by 
the  management  of  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad 
Company.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the  legislature.  A  bill 
to  authorize  the  condemnation  by  any  railroad  company 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.       31 S 

of  any  portion  of  another  road  that  had  been  unused  for 
one  year  was  introduced  in  the  house  of  representatives  in 
January,  1881.  The  attorneys  of  the  raih-oad  company 
appeared  before  the  committee  to  whom  the  bill  was  re- 
ferred, to  oppose  it.  Mr.  Cutler,  Hon.  Thos.  W.  Ewart,, 
and  Judge  Sibley  appeared  in  behalf  of  the  people  of 
"Washington  county  in  its  favor.  Mr.  Cutler  closed  the 
discussion,  supporting  with  great  ability  the  proposition 
that  the  grant  by  the  legislature  to  a  railroad  company  of 
the  right  to  condemn  property,  construct  and  operate  its 
line,  and  take  tolls,  was  in  consideration  of  its  continuous 
service  to  the  public  as  a  common  carrier,  and  that  the 
abandonment  of  the  use  of  its  line  or  any  part  of  it  should 
constitute  a  forfeiture  of  its  right  to  it,  and  that  the  legis- 
lature could  and  should  exercise  the  rio-ht  of  eminent 
domain  in  authorizing  some  other  railroad  company  to 
condemn  it.  The  house  of  representatives  passed  the  bill 
by  a  two-thirds  vote.  It  was  indefinitely  postponed  in  the 
senate  by  a  close  vote,  but  its  passage,  or  that  of  a  similar 
bill  at  the  next  session,  seemed  assured.  Meantime  the 
creditors  of  the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  which 
had  been  in  the  hands  of  receivers  since  1877,  its  funded 
and  floating  debt  having  been  increased,  since  1868,  over 
$15,000,000,  had  agreed  upon  a  plan  of  reorganization  and 
a  decree  of  foreclosure  that  permitted  a  separate  sale  of 
the  abandoned  line.  A  new  company',  known  as  the  Cin- 
cinnati, Washington  and  Baltimore  Railroad  Company, 
acquired  its  property  and  rights.  General  Orland  Smith 
was  made  its  president.  iSTo  further  difiiculties  were  en- 
countered. 

On  the  9th  of  April,  1884,  the  Cincinnati,  Washington 
and  Baltimore  Railroad  Company  conveyed  to  the  Mari- 
etta Mineral  Railway  Company  the  "■  okl  line"  road,  ex- 
tending from  Moore's  Junction  to  the  point  of  divergence 
of  the  Baltimore  Short  Line  in  Athens  county,  and  a  per- 
petual right  to  the  use  of  the  road  from  Moore's  Junction 
to  Marietta.  A  graded  line  from  Big  ran  up  Federal 
creek  valley  to  the  Joy  farm  was  also  acquired.  W^ork 
was  commenced  at  once,  and  in  less  than  a  year  trains  ran 


314         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

regularly  to  Big  run,  twenty-live  miles  west  of  Marietta, 
Mr,  Cutler  gave  his  personal  attention  to  every  detail  of 
the  reconstruction  of  the  old  line.  He  walked  over  it 
again  and  again,  inspecting  every  rail  and  every  structure. 
He  held  meetings  in  every  school  district  along  it,  to  so- 
licit subscriptions  and  to  urge  the  people  to  engage  in  busi- 
ness enterprises  that  would  furnish  a  traffic  for  the  road 
when  built.  In  connection  with  W.  R,  Utley  of  New 
York,  Colonel  R.  E.  Phillips  and  T.  D.  Dale,  of  Marietta, 
w'ho  were  also  his  associates  in  building  the  railroad,  he 
organized  the  Federal  Valley  Coal  Company,  wdiich  has 
the  most  extensive  plant  for  the  manufacture  of  coke  in 
Ohio,  Writing  of  this,  in  his  note  book,  in  1887,  he  said: 
"  The  dream  of  a  lifetime  may  yet  be  realized :  to  open 
that  coal  field  w^as  one  of  the  strongest  motives  to  under- 
take the  old  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,"  Mr.  Cut- 
ler was  president  of  the  Mineral  road  until  1887,  when  it 
was  purchased  by  parties  w^ho  have  built  it  through  to  a 
connection  wnth  the  Toledo  and  Ohio  Central  road,  No 
achievement  of  his  life  gave  him  more  genuine  satisfaction 
than  the  construction  of  this  line.  This  w^as  the  last  con- 
siderable public  w'ork  in  which  he  ■was  engaged. 

In  1845,  Marietta  college  conferred  upon  him  the  hon- 
orary degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  In  1848,  he  delivered  the 
annual  address  before  its  literary  societies.  In  1849,  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  held 
the  position  until  his  death.  He  contributed  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  college  according  to  his  means,  and  his  ad- 
vice and  counsel  were  often  sought  and  always  heeded. 
The  relations  between  himself  and  Dr,  I,  W,  Andrews  w^ere 
always  intimate,  and  never  more  so  than  in  tlie  hist  years 
of  their  lives.  He  received,  also,  the  honorary  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  trom  the  Ohio  University,  at  Athens,  in 
1845,  and  was  a  member  of  its  board  of  trustees  from 
1849  to  1853. 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  he  gave  much  at- 
tention to  the  history  of  the  early  settlement  of  Ohio,  No 
one  did  more  to  secure  for  the  pioneers  the  honorable  rec- 
ognition which  this  generation  has  accorded  them,  and  no 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler.         315 

one  was  better  iitted  for  the  work.  He  was  himself  a 
born  pioneer.  Nothing  so  pleased  him  as  unbroken  acres 
and  native  forests.  The  nursery  tales  of  his  infancy  were 
of  the  perils  and  privations  of  the  early  settlers.  The 
most  vivid  recollections  of  his  childhood  were  of  the  old 
soldiers  of  the  Revolution  who  so  often  visited  his  home. 
For  their  characters  he  had  something  of  the  same  rever- 
ence which  he  felt  for  the  memory  of  his  parents.  The 
recovery  of  the  papers  of  his  grandfather,  Rev.  Manasseh 
Cutler,  LL.D.,  in  1883,  was  the  source  of  the  liighest  sat- 
isfaction to  him,  and  he  enjoyed,  to  the  utmost,  the  labor 
of  preparing,  in  connection  with  his  sister,  Miss  Julia  P. 
Cutler,  the  "Life,  Journals,  and  Correspondence  of  Ma- 
nasseh Cutler,"  which  was  published  in  1888. 

He  became,  in  1885,  a  corporate  member  of  the  Ohio 
Historical  and  Archseological  Society,  and  was  one  of  its 
trustees  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  to  himself  and  Dr.  I.  W.  Andrews  the 
great  success  of  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  settle- 
ment of  Ohio,  at  Marietta,  on  the  7th  of  April,  1888,  was 
due. 

He  was  a  ready  writer.  His  reports,  circulars,  addresses, 
and  newspaper  articles  in  behalf  of  the  Marietta  and  Cin- 
cinnati Railroad,  and  other  corporations  with  which  he 
was  connected,  would  till  many  volumes.  I^o  one  can 
read  them  without  being  impressed  by  the  ability  dis- 
played in  their  preparation.  A  partial  list  of  his  pub- 
lished papers  and  addresses  is  given  in  the  appendix. 
The  three  short  speeches  there  printed  are  fair  samples  of 
his  style. 

Mr.  Cutler  was  married,  in  1840,  to  Elizabeth  W.  Voris, 
of  Warren  township,  who,  with  one  daughter,  survives 
him.  Five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  born 
to  them,  died  in  early  childhood.  Fond  hopes  are  buried 
with  them.  Their  loss  was  a  crushing  blow  to  their  parents, 
and  from  it  they  never  recovered. 

The  strong  points  in  Mr,  Cutler's  character  were  thor- 
oughness   and   sincerity.     '■'-Non  tetigit  nan    ornavit."     He 


316         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

touched  nothing  he  did  not  adorn,  for  he  could  not  be  con- 
tent with  a  superficial  knowledge  of  any  thing.  Thor- 
oughly sincere  in  his  own  convictions,  he  found  little  diffi- 
culty in  persuading  others.  He  could  not  dissimulate,  nor 
was  it  easy  to  convince  him  that  others  were  not  as  sincere 
as  himself.  When  a  question  was  fairly  presented  to  hira^ 
he  had  remarkable  power  in  detecting  its  salient  points, 
and  his  judgment  was  usually  correct.  He  excelled  in 
clear  statement.  ISTo  one  could  mistake  his  meaning.  To' 
grant  his  premises  was  to  admit  his  conclusions.  Few  men 
possessed  more  general  information.  When  he  found  time 
to  acquire  it,  he  could  not  himself  explain.  Though  for 
forty  years,  occupying  positions  of  responsibility  in  en- 
terprises involving  great  risks,  he  was  always  ready  to  de- 
vote a  leisure  moment  to  the  discussion  of  current  events 
or  of  political,  religious,  or  historical  subjects.  The  most 
companionable  and  approachable  of  men,  he  was  sometimes 
thought  to  be  austere,  for  there  were  hours  when  his 
heart  was  far  away  with  the  graves  of  his  children. 

He  made  profession  of  religion  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
and  lived  a  Christian  life.  He  never  sought  to  thrust  his 
opinions  upon  others,  preferring  to  teach  by  example.  But 
he  was  ready  with  the  precept  at  all  proper  times  and  on  all 
proper  occasions.  He  started  and  superintended  several 
Sunday-schools  near  his  home,  among  them,  one  in  Barlow 
township,  for  colored  children,  which  produced  noticeably 
good  results.  For  years,  when  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
Warren  township,  was  without  a  settled  pastor,  he  led  the 
service  and  read  the  sermon,  and  for  many  years  conducted 
the  Sabbath-school.  When  he  had  abundant  means,  he  gave 
abundantly  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  education — they 
were  inseparable  in  his  mind — and  of  his  scantier  resources- 
he  never  withheld  a  portion.  His  pastor,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Addy,  at  the  funeral  service,  spoke  from  the  text,  "  Strong 
in  the  Lord,"  and  said  near  the  close :  "  It  would  be  hard 
to  tell  the  number  of  feeble  churches  almost  created  by 
his  benevolence,  and  afterward  encouraged  by  any  aid  he 
could  give.     Ministers  have  spoken  to  me  in  years  past  of 


Sketch  of  the  Life  of  WiUiavi  Parker  Cutler.         317 

his  kind  sympathy  witli  tlicm  in  their  work,  and  he  had 
a  mother's  heart  for  any  honest,  earnest  toiler  amid  dis- 
couragement. Free  and  easy  as  he  was  in  conversation, 
he  had  to  be  drawn  out  before  one  could  quite  know  him, 
and  you  had  to  go  elsewhere  to  learn  the  good  he  tried  to 
do.  With  this  was  joined  a  humble,  personal  trust  in 
Jesus  as  the  Savior  of  sinners.  With  our  friend  a  general 
confidence  in  God  and  his  government  was  not  enough  for 
the  soul's  redemption.  No  part  of  his  faith  and  experi- 
ence was  more  clear  than  his  belief  and  conviction  of  his 
own  need  of  Christ.     From  his  own  heart  he  could  sav : 

"  '  Xothing  in  my  hand  I  bring; 
Simply  to  thy  cross  I  cling.'" 

An  appreciative  estimate  of  his  character  is  given  in  the 
following  extract  of  the  report  of  a  committee,  of  which 
Beman  Gates,  Esq.,  was  chairman,  entered  upon  the  min- 
utes of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Marietta  College  at  its 
meeting,  June  25,  1889  : 

"  Southern  Ohio  owes  more  to  William  P.  Cutler  than 
to  any  other  man  for  his  forecast,  his  energy,  and  his  per- 
sonal efforts  and  sacrifices  to  secure  the  development  of 
the  vast  resources  of  this  part  of  the  state,  and  facilities 
for  the  transportation  of  its  products.  During  nearly  all 
the  forty  years  of  his  membership  in  this  board,  Mr.  Cut- 
ler was  engrossed  in  the  duties  of  official  and  public  life, 
or  pressed  wdth  cares  and  responsibilities  pertaining  to 
the  supervision  of  great  business  enterprises.  But  these 
pressing  demands  upon  his  time  and  his  thoughts  seldom 
prevented  his  attendance  upon  the  regular  meetings  of  the 
board.  His  associates  during  many  years  of  his  service 
here  testify  that  he  also  was  nearly  always  present  at 
special  meetings,  and  that  he  always  came  wdth  words  of 
cheer  and  encouragement. 

"  He  had  broad  views  of  the  policy  that  should  govern 
the  board  of  trustees  in  their  business  afiairs,  and  he  in- 


318         Sketch  of  the  Life  of  William  Parker  Cutler. 

sisted  upon  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  high  standard  of  edu- 
cation early  and  always  approved  by  the  board. 

"  He  was  wise  in  counsel,  hopeful  in  times  of  trouble, 
forcible  in  argument,  generous  in  thought  and  action,  and 
abundant  in  charity  and  good  will  for  his  associates  and 
for  all  mankind/' 


Circular.  319 


APPENDIX. 


TERRITORY  of  the  UNITED  STATES  Northwest  of 

THE  RIVER  OHIO. 

Cincinnati,  ?Mh  December,  1797. 

CIRCULAR.* 
SIB: 

BY  tlie  inclosed  copy  of  the  minutes  of  tlie  proceedings 
of  a  general  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Hamilton  count j^ 
you  will  perceive  that  the  citizens  are  desirous  to  obtain 
information  with  respect  to  the  number  of  free  inhabitants 
in  those  five  counties  which  compose  the  Eastern  District 
of  this  Territory ;  and  that  they  have  committed  to  us  the 
task  of  corresponding  with  the  neighboring  counties. 

YOU  will  observe,  sir,  that  in  tlie  fifth  Article  of  the 
Compact,  joined  to  the  Ordinance  for  the  Government  of 
the  Territory :  "  That,  when  any  one  of  the  States  shall 
have  sixty  thousand  free  inhabitants  therein,  such  State 
shall  be  admitted  by  its  Delegates  into  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original 
States,  in  all  respects  whatsoever,  and  shall  be  at  liberty 
to  form  a  permanent  Constitution  and  State  Government ; 
Provided,  the  Constitution  and  Government  so  to  be 
formed  shall  be  Republican,  and  in  conformit}^  to  the 
principles  contained  in  these  Articles,  and  so  far  as  it  shall 
be  consistent  with  the  general  interest  of  the  Confederacy, 
such  admission  shall  be  allowed  at  an  earlier  period,  and 
when  there  may  be  a  less  number  of  free  inhabitants  in 
the  State  than  sixty  thousand." 


*This  circular  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Ephraim  Cutler  too 
late  to  insert  in  its  proper  place.  It  is  believed  to  record  the  first 
organized  effort  in  the  Northwectern  Territory  for  the  formation  of  a 
State. 


-320  Appendix. 

WE  conceive,  sir,  if  we  have  thirty  thousand  free  inhab- 
itants in  this  eastern  District  of  the  Territory  (and  of  this 
w^e  have  no  doubt),  that  on  application  to  the  honorable  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  we  shall  immediately  obtain 
permission  to  form  a  permanent  Constitution  and  State 
Government  for  ourselves. 

WE  further  conceive  that  the  right  of  having  a  Repre- 
sentative in  Congress  for  every  thirty  thousand  souls,  is 
guaranteed  to  us  by  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  was 
made  since  the  Ordinance,  and  while  most  of  us  were  citi- 
zens of  the  States  in  union,  and  to  the  forming  of  which 
Constitution  we  gave  our  assistance,  surely  then  it  can  not 
possibly  be  conjectured  that  we  have  forfeited  that  right 
hy  becoming  adventurers  to  this  Territory. 

WE  are  solicitous.  Sir,  to  discharge  so  important  a  trust 
with  diligence  and  assiduity,  and  relying  upon  the  assist- 
ance of  every  virtuous  and  candid  citizen  who  wishes  to 
participate  in  those  inestimable  blessings  and  advantages 
which  flow  from  a  Government  chosen  by  the  people,  we 
believe  it  practicable  to  accomplish  the  object  of  our 
appointment  without  deviating  from  the  true  principles 
-of  republicanism,  or  meriting  reproach  from  any  indi- 
vidual. 

WE  shall  be  happy,  sir,  to  receive  as  early  information 
from  you  as  possible,  after  you  will  effect  a  general  meet- 
ing of  the  citizens  of  your  county,  or  sooner,  if  you  think 
proper.  You  will  please  to  address  your  letters  to  Will- 
iam Goforth,  Esquire,  Columbia.  We  are,  sir,  your  most 
obedient  humble  servants,  William  Goforth, 

RoBT.  Benham, 
RoBT.  McClure, 
William  McMillan, 
Aaron  Cadwell, 
David  Zeigler, 
Thomas  Goudy. 
P.  S.    The  proceedings  of  the  Committee,  having  been 
laid  before  the  citizens  on  Wednesday,  the  6th  of  Decem- 
ber, agreeable  to  the  resolutions  of  the  citizens  on  the  16th 
of  November,  met  with  their  general  approbation. 


Sjyeech  in  Presbyterian  General  Assembly.  321 


SPEECH     IX     THE     PRESBYTERIAN     GENERAL 

ASSEMBLY. 

May,  1857. 

Hon.  W.  P.  Cutler,  of  Warren,  Ohio,  offered  tlie  follow- 
ing as  a  substitute  for  the  report  of  the  committee : 

"  The  General  Assembly,  in  view  of  memorials  pre- 
sented, and  under  a  deep  sense  of  accountal:)ility  to  God 
and  to  the  Church,  feel  called  upon  to  take  the  following 
action  : 

"We  do  hereby  explicitly  condemn  the  doctrine  that 
slavery  is  sanctioned  by  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  as  a  fundamental  error,  with  which  we  have 
no  sympathy  or  fellowship. 

"And  whereas,  the  Presbytery  of  Lexington  South  has 
forwarded  to  this  Assembly  a  memorial  containing  the 
following  words  : 

"  '  There  are  ministers  of  this  Presbytery  who  are  slave- 
holders— holding  slaves  under  the  belief  that,  according  to 
the  Bible,  it  is  right — and  also  nearly  all  of  the  ruling 
elders  of  the  churches  under  the  care  of  this  Presbytery 
are  slave-holders,  believing  it  to  be,  according  to  the  Old 
and  New  Scriptures,  right,  while  a  large  majority  of  the 
members  who  are  property-holders  are  slave-holders,  be- 
lieving that  it  is  right.'  While  offering  no  qualifying 
explanations  of  their  language,  the  Presbytery  have 
assumed  the  responsibility  of  sustaining  such  ministers 
and  elders  in  their  position,  this  Assembly  is  constrained 
in  the  exercise  of  its  power  of  warning  and  bearing  tes- 
timony against  error  in  doctrine  or  immorality  in  practice 
against  any  Church,  Presbytery,  or  Synod,  to  disapprove 
and  condemn  the  position  which  is  thus  assumed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Lexington  South,  as  one  which  is  not  only 
unscriptural,  but  utterly  opposed  to  the  convictions  of  our 
Church,  and  calculated  to  mar  its  peace  and  seriously  hin- 
21 


322  Appendix. 

der  its  prosperity,  as  well  as  bring  reproach  upon  our  holy 
religion. 

"  This  Assembly  do  hereby  call  on  the  Presbytery  of 
Lexington  South  to  review  and  rectify  their  position  ;  and 
in  case  the  Presbytery  shall  neglect  to  comply  with  this 
request,  the  Synod  of  Mississippi  is  directed  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  the  case  at  their  earliest  convenience." 

Mr.  Cutler  supported  this  resolution  in  the  following 
speech  : 

As  the  discussion  at  this  point  of  its  progress  seems  to 
turn  upon  the  relation  of  master  and  slave,  I  offer  a  few 
thoughts  upon  that  point,  although  any  thing  like  a  thor- 
ough examination  of  the  subject  can  not  be  expected  under 
the  present  tifteen  minute  restriction. 

The  relation  of  master  and  slave,  in  the  Southern 
States,  is  not  the  creature  of  constitutional  law,  for  no 
one  of  their  Constitutions  undertakes  to  create  or  establish 
that  relation.  The  founders  of  those  States  knew  too  well 
what  were  the  elements  of  future  greatness  to  give  notice  to 
the  world  that  their  soil  was  tilled  by  men  in  chains.  Nei- 
ther is  it  the  creature  of  common  law,  for  Lord  Mansiield 
decided,  in  1772,  in  the  Somerset  case,  that  slavery  could 
not  exist  under  the  common  law.  So  that  slavery  has  no 
constitutional  bulwarks  behind  which  to  light  its  battles, 
and  no  common  law  defenses  under  which  to  take  refuge. 
Neither  is  it  the  creature  of  statute  law,  except  as  it  is  rec- 
ognized, cherished,  and  protected  as  an  existing  fact. 

Whence,  then,  originates  the  relation '?  If  I  go  to  a 
slave-holder  and  ask  why  is  this  man,  Tom,  your  slave? 
How  do  you  prove  to  me  beyond  doubt  that  Tom  is  not  a 
free  man  ?  The  reply  is  :  Tom  is  a  slave  because  his  mother 
was  a  slave.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  great  fundamental 
principle  underlying  the  whole  system,  the  practical  appli- 
cation of  which  creates  the  relation  of  master  and  slave.  My 
object  is  to  call  your  attention  to  this  principle  and  ask : 
Is  it  right  ?  If  a  woman  were  to  fall  on  your  pavement 
and  break  her  arm,  would  it  be  right  that  community  and 
the  courts  should  thereafter  decree  that  her  posterity 
should  be  forever  maimed  in  like  manner  ?     Whence  comes 


Speech  in  Presbyterian  General  Assembly.  323 

this  dogma,  which,  in  its  quiet,  silent,  and  ahnost  unno- 
ticed application,  has  fixed  the  chains  of  slavery  on  mill- 
ions of  the  human  race?  The  Supreme  Court,  in  their 
recent  decisions,  throw  no  light  upon  this  point.  They 
coolly  assume  that  because  the  ancestors  of  Dred  Scott  were 
slaves,  he  is  a  slave.  But  if  the  inquiry  were  started :  Is 
it  right  to  hold  a  man  a  slave  because  his  ancestors  were 
slaves  ?  that  decision  must  fall  to  the  ground.  The  advo- 
cates of  slavery  do  not  quote  Scripture  in  support  of  this 
horrid  doctrine,  hut  resort  to  the  classics.  They  tell  us 
that  it  was  law  in  the  Roman  Empire.  ^'Partus  sequitur 
ventrem"  was  the  manacle  for  infant  limbs  in  the  palmy 
days  of  heathenism,  and  therefore  Christianity  must  forge 
and  fetter  in  like  manner.  They  go  back  to  a  nation  that 
has  had  its  day  of  trial  on  the  earth — a  nation  that  God  has 
tried,  judged,  condemned,  and  executed,  more  on  account 
of  this  crime  than  any  other,  and  which  lies  now  buried 
under  the  rubbish  of  centuries,  for  a  principle  abhorrent 
alike  to  reason  and  religion.  This  fossil  lie  is  raked  up 
from  the  fire  and  brimstone  of  Roman  perdition,  and  is 
now  offered  as  a  substitute  for  the  second  table  of  God's 
holy  law. 

It  can  not  be  claimed  that  the  slaves  in  the  South  were 
bought  of  the  "heathen  round  about."  Neither  are  they 
subjects  of  conquest.  In  the  enslavement  of  men  by  con- 
quest, there  is  at  least  the  appearance  of  fairness ;  for  the 
captive  has  had  a  chance  to  strike  his  blow.  But  this  is  a 
conquest  of  infants — taken  in  detail.  One  by  one,  as  God 
in  his  wise  providence  sees  fit  to  stamp  his  image  upon  the 
child  of  a  slave  mother,  instead  of  training  up  that  inno- 
cent for  the  Lord,  you  smite  oflTthe  likeness  and  send  forth 
the  child  into  the  field  as  a  brute.  Is  this  right  ?  Remem- 
ber, this  is  the  origin  and  creation  of  the  relationship  of 
master  and  slave — it  is  the  beginning,  the  foundation  of 
the  whole  system.  Reverse  this  horrid  heathen  maxim, 
and  the  sun  now  shining  in  the  heavens  would  not  set 
upon  a  slave  on  American  soil.  Would  to  God  it  were 
reversed ! 

I  have  no  time  to  elaborate  this  point.     I  ask  you  to 


324  Appendix. 

think  of  it,  as  it  has  hitherto  escaped  attention — think  of 
it  in  view  of  the  holy  and  tender  ties  and  recollections  that 
cluster  around  the  name,  mother — that  she,  in  ohedience  to 
the  law  of  this  Moloch,  should  he  made,  by  necessity,  the 
author  of  ruin  and  infamy  to  her  child.  Think  of  it  as  the 
helplessness  of  infancy  pleads  for  protection,  while  you 
fasten  upon  it  a  curse.  Think  of  it  as  you  see  that  image  of 
God,  which  he  designed  not  only  as  a  badge  of  dominion 
and  superiority  over  inferior  works,  but  also  as  a  badge  ovd 
proof  of  equality — degraded  and  chattelized.  Gentlemen 
may  split  hairs  over  the  relation  as  a  sin  jjer  se,  or  malum 
in  se,  but  my  soul  turns  away  in  utter  abhorrence  from  the 
whole  thino;,  and  I  can  see  nothina;  in  the  relation  itself 
but  the  shady  side  of  heathenism.  The  ugliest  features  of 
this  giant  crime,  slavery,  have  been  hitherto  concealed. 
Attention  has  been  directed  to  results,  to  abuses,  to  the 
system  ignoring  the  relation  and  the  nature  of  the  relation. 
Thus  it  has  gone  forward  from  infancy  to  manhood,  from 
an  intruder  to  a  boasting  landlord,  from  a  begging  mendi- 
cant to  a  commander  of  armies  and  controller  of  cabinets. 
It  has  been  a  quiet,  silent,  cunning,  '  squatting'  devil,  who 
has  secured  a  night's  lodging  in  our  Paradise,  and  now,  in 
broad  daylight,  turns  round  and  pre-empts  the  whole 
country  by  reason  of  a  night's  hospitality. 

But  I  am  asked  whether  there  may  not  be  cases  where 
the  relation  of  master  and  slave  may  exist  without  sin  ? 
T  answer  that,  whenever  a  slave-holder  has  made  up  his 
mind  that,  upon  moral  grounds,  the  thing  is  wrong,  and 
that  he  will  emancipate  his  slave,^and  although  we  may 
differ  in  judgment  as  to  the  time,  I  insisting  that  it  shall 
be  done  at  once,  and  he  pleading  obstacles  and  difficulties 
as  calling  for  delay,  yet,  if  I  am  satisiied  that  he  honestly 
intends  to  emancipate  his  slave,  restoring  to  him  that 
which  has  been  wrongfully  withheld  (I  mean  God's  gift  of 
personal  liberty),  he  shall  have  my  confidence  as  an  honest 
man  and  a  Christian ;  but  if  I  go  to  him  a  year  afterward 
and  find  him  waiting  for  something  to  'turn  up,"  holding 
on  for  God's  providence  to  open  the  way  for  emancipa- 
tion, while  he  is  coolly  pocketing  the  avails  of  his  slave's 


Speech  in  Presbyterian  General  Assembly.  325 

labor,  I  say  to  liini  he  can  not  have  my  confidence  and  need 
not  (expect  it.  I  know  there  are  difficnlties  in  the  way  of 
emancipation.  I  do  not  wish  to  ignore  them  ;  and  I  regard 
the  Christian  wlio  honestly  and  fearlessly  meets  those 
ditiicnlties  and  is  willino;  to  secure  his  slave  from  the  con- 
tingency  of  nltimate  slavery,  arising  from  his  own  pecu- 
niary liabilities  or  from  death,  as  worthy  of  my  confidence 
and  sympathy,  although  he  may  deem  it  necessary  to 
retain  the  legal  relation  as  a  means  of  best  carrying  out  a 
benevolent  purpose.  If  he  has  made  up  his  mind  to  eman- 
cipate, and  holds  the  legal  relation  only  as  a  trustee,  he  is 
not  a  slave-holder  in  the  sense  which  I  regard  as  sinful. 
But  is  an  emancipator  of  a  slave,  the  ransomer  of  a  fellow- 
being,  the  redeemer  of  a  ynanf  To  such  a  man  I  could 
almost  render  the  homage  which  John  was  disposed  to 
give  the  angel.  And  while  I  would  not  expect  him  to  be 
as  good  looking  as  the  angel,  I  would  insist  that  he  is  as 
honest.  Emancipation  is  not  impracticable,  certainly  not 
so  far  as  slave-holders  in  our  denomination  are  concerned. 
Every- slave  held  by  members  of  our  Church  can  be  eman- 
cipated. Cases  are  of  frequent  occurrence  where  masters 
restore  to  slaves  their  freedom  from  the  religious  convic- 
tion that  slavery  is  wrong,  although  I  suppose  our  venera- 
ble friend  from  Tennessee  (Dr,  Ross)  must  have  emanci- 
pated his  $40,000  worth  because  he  thought  the  system 
right.  I  can  say  to  him  that  that  noble  deed  will  be 
remembered  long  after  his  letters  are  forgotten. 

One  word  in  regard  to  our  action  on  this  subject. 
Our  people  understand  this  matter.  They  know  that  slav- 
ery is  wrong,  and  do  not  need  days  of  discussion  to  con- 
vince them  of  that  fact ;  neither  do  they  need  new  decla- 
rations of  sentiment,  or  new  standards  of  duty.  They  feel 
degraded  and  humiliated  that  standards  already  raised  are 
violated  with  impunity — that  a  Southern  Presbytery  bids 
you  defiance,  and  glories  in  the  indignity  cast  upon  your 
authority.  The  judgment  and  conscience  of  the  people, 
and  Christians  generally,  require  that  your  power  in  the 
direction  of  discipline  should  be  exerted  to  the  fullest  con- 
stitutional limit  as  the  only  means  of  wiping  ofi"  the  stain 


326  Appendix. 

and  vindicating  God's  truth.  There  are  times  when  dis- 
cipline must  be  enforced,  or  the  truth  betrayed.  In,  my 
judgment,  that  time  has  come  in  this  controversy.  The 
simple  object  in  the  paper  which  I  have  ofiered  is  to  secure 
the  exercise  of  this  discipline,  in  the  way  pointed  out  by 
the  last  General  Assembly  as  right  and  constitutional,  in 
the  way  which  that  Presbytery  admits  to  be  right,  for  they 
ask  you  to  exercise  it  if  you  regard  them  guilty  of  an 
offense.  You  may  request  the  Presbytery  to  review  and 
correct  their  position ;  but  that  is  not  an  exercise  oi  power. 
Your  power  is  only  exerted  when  you  direct  the  Synod  to 
take  cognizance  of  the  matter.  I  have  not  taken  this 
ground  from  any  feeling  of  malice  to  Southern  members 
of  our  Churches,  and  while  I  can  not  expect  to  receive  the 
aftections  or  kind  feelings  even  of  their  representatives  in 
this  Assembly,  I  intend  to  deserve  their  confidence  and 
respect.  I  make  the  issue  clearly  and  distinctly,  and  say 
to  them :  You  must  either  abandon  your  error,  or  be 
rebuked  by  the  exercise  of  discipline  to  the  full  extent  ot 
constitutional  power. 


SPEECH  BEFORE  THE  MILITARY  MEETING   OF 
WASHINGTON  COUNTY, 

IN  THK  COURT  HOUSE,  MARIETTA,  ON  SATURDAY,  JULY  19,  1862. 

[Congress  adjourned  on  Thursday  afternoon,  July  17th. 
Mr.  Cutler  had  just  arrived  from  Washington,  and  was 
immediately  called  upon  to  address  the  Military  Meeting 
of  Washington  county,  Saturday  afternoon.] 

I  must  express  the  pleasure  it  gives  me  to  have  so  early, 
though  unexpected,  an  interview  with  you,  on  my  return 
from  the  performance  of  my  duties  assigned  by  the  choice 
and  suffrage  of  the  people  of  this  congressional  district. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  meet  you  as  an  agent  meets  his 
principal — as  an  employee  his  employer — knowing  that  you 
will  deal  with  me  in  candor,  generosity  and  fairness.     The 


Address  before  3Iilitary  Meetwrj.  327 

time  has  arrived  when  you  must  look  public  affairs  squarely 
in  the  face — when  you  can  not  afford  to  make  mistakes — 
when  your  own  dearest  interests  require  a  calm,  cool,  dis- 
passionate examination  of  the  acts  of  your  agents,  and  a 
thorouo^h  business-like  determination  of  what  is  best  to  be 
done. 

I  find  a  prevalent  feeling  of  anxiety,  disappointment  and 
discouragement,  arising  mainly,  perhaps,  from  recent  unto- 
ward events.  You  have  the  right,  and  it  is  your  duty,  to 
inquire  rigidly  and  searchingly  into  causes  as  well  as  results. 
To  determine  intelligently  the  line  of  present  duty,  it  is 
necessary  to  look  over  the  whole  ground — past  and  present 
— and  see  just  where  we  stand.  In  doing  this  I  shall  not 
attempt  argument  or  press  theories,  or  urge  my  own  views 
— but  deal  chiefly  in  the  acknowledged  facts  which  have 
been  developed  in  this  mighty  struggle. 

It  is  useless  to  disregard  or  ie^nore  the  great  fact  of  our 
political  history ;  that  previous  to  the  outbreak  of  this 
rebellion — an  interest — an  "  institution  "  of  vast  propor- 
tions had  acquired  an  almost  complete  ascendency  in  the 
politics  of  the  country. 

It  had  commanded  the  deference,  if  not  the  absolute 
obeisance,  of  all  classes  of  public  men.  A  powerful  and 
controlling  political  organization  had  virtually  pledged  it 
support,  protection,  and  extension.  Those  who  would  not 
support,  or  extend  the  institution,  were  willing  to  let  it 
alone. 

Thus  had  slavery,  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  funda- 
mental purposes,  intentions,  and  provisions  of  the  constitu- 
tion, become  a  controlling  power  in  the  land.  With  all  its 
fatal  antagonisms  to  public  liberty,  and  private  rights — it 
had  assumed  the  management  of  public  affairs.  The  rebel- 
lion itself  was  the  outgrowth  and  result  of  its  inherent 
tendencies  to  despotism.  It  denied  flatly  and  plainly  the 
right  of  the  people  to  assemble  peaceably,  and  determine 
by  ballot,  who  should  be  the  president  of  the  republic. 

Its  first  collision  with  the  constituted  authorities  was  a 
denial  of  the  right  of  the  government  to  "  coerce  a  seced- 
ing state."     It  was  at  this  point  that  the  true  power  and 


328  Appendix. 

inherent  virtue  and  energy  of  the  people  was  felt.  With 
instinctive  wisdom,  they  followed  the  unerring  impulses  of 
self-preservation — rose  in  the  majesty  of  their  power — bade 
their  false  political  betrayers  stand  back — said  in  thunder- 
tones  ;  loe  are  the  sovereigns — this  is  our  fight — our  govern- 
ment has  a  right  to  live. 

In  tliis  first  battle  under  the  thin  ambush  of  no  coercion, 
and  no  invasion,  slavery  was  defeated  but  not  destroyed. 

In  the  progress  of  the  struggle — the  people  having  sent 
to  the  battle-field  the  flower  and  manhood  of  the  nation — 
it  was  found  necessary  to  exact  contributions  and  impose 
burdens  and  restrictions  upon  every  interest,  individual, 
and  institution  in  the  land.  The  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
and  the  freedom  of  the  press  were  struck  down.  A  thou- 
sand million  dollar's  worth  of  railroad  and  telegraph  prop- 
erty were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  executive,  and  the 
managers  ordered  under  the  articles  of  war. 

Loyal  men  said,  ''  Take  it  all — we  yield  every  thing  with 
our  lives,  to  sustain  the  authority  of  the  government."  But 
this  mighty  interest  of  slavery  stood  boldly  up  and  said : 
"  You  may  take  every  thing  that  is  dear  to  the  people;  you 
may  take  husbands  and  fathers,  brothers  and  sons ;  you 
may  strip  the  roof  from  the  dwelling,  and  make  the  pleas- 
ant hearthstone  desolate — bury  your  picked  men  under  the 
drudgeries  and  dangers  of  the  service  ;  you  may  fill  hos- 
pitals witli  victims  of  miasma,  and  your  armies  may  wilt 
under  a  scorching  southern  sun — but  you  shall  not  lay  a 
finger  upon  me  or  mine.  I  have  constitutional  rights — they 
must  he  respected.'"  In  a  word,  you  may  take  habeas  corpus 
and  freedom  of  the  press,  you  may  take  without  stint  or 
limit  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  nation,  but  I  will  go 
"  scot  free  " — you  shall  not  point  j'our  finger  at  me.  I  will 
yield  nothing  of  my  prerogative  to  rule. 

This,  in  plain  English,  is  the  "  Border  State  policy,"  which 
has  been  so  justly  condemned  by  my  friend  Col.  West. 

Now  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  an  interest  which 
had  acquired  such  ascendency  in  political  councils  should 
press  its  claims  boldly  and  for  a  time  with  success. 

But  as  the  exigencies  of  the  crisis  pressed  heavily  upon 


Address  before  Military  Meeting.  329 

tlie  loyal  and  true  defenders  of  the  nation's  life,  the  claims 
of  this  saucy  idol  to  absolute  obeisance  began  to  be  ques- 
tioned, and  Congress  said  "■  we  will  see  if  you  can  not  be 
touched — we  will  trv  titles  with  vou,  we  will  see  whether 
•you  are  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a  mighty  nation  struggling 
for  existence  with  a  foe  to  whom  you  have  imparted 
strength  and  given  its  greatest  capacity  for  endurance." 
For  let  me  sav  that  that  this  rebellion  would  not  have  sus- 
tained  itself  six  months  without  the  support  given  to  it  by 
slave  labor. 

At  first  slavery  was  touched  lightly — abolished  in  the 
district — in  the  territories — freedom  was  given  to  all  slaves 
actually  employed  by  the  rebels.  All  these  measures  were 
met  by  frowns,  threats,  and  evil  forebodings  from  the  friends 
and  guardians  of  the  institution— but  really  no  body  was 
hurt — the  constitution  survived  the  shock,  and  the  sun  rose 
and  set  as  usual. 

In  conducting  the  war,  a  policy  of  forbearance  toward 
the  persons  and  the  property  of  rebels  had  been  adopted, 
with  perhaps  the  expectation  that  it  might  soften  animosity 
and  lead  to  a  better  mind.  There  was  really  no  disposition 
to  interfere  with  slaverv  in  the  states  at  this  stage  of  the 
struggle,  because  it  was  supposed  that  the  authority  of  the 
government  could  be  established  without  it.  But  it  soon 
became  evident  that  forbearance  and  protection  were  de- 
manded as  a  right,  and  kindness  was  met  by  insult  from 
recipients  who  continued  in  unabated  hostility.  The  ques- 
tion arose  :  Why  should  not  the  rebels  and  the  population 
of  the  rebellious  territory  bear  their  share  of  the  burdens 
of  war  ?  This  inquiry  resulted  in  the  confiscation  of  rebel 
property,  and  the  liberation  of  their  slaves. 

Upon  these  questions  the  great  battle  with  the  giant 
Rebel  was  fought,  and  slavery  made  to  bite  the  dust. 

Now  let  us  see  how  this  matter  stands.  We  began  with 
slavery  in  almost  undisputed  ascendancy.  There  have  now 
entered  into  the  permanent  legislation  of  the  countr}^  the 
tollowing  acts :  • 

1.  A  law  preventing  officers  of  the  army  from  returning 
slaves  coming  within  their  lines. 


530  Appendix. 

2.  Freedom  given  to  all  slaves  who  have  been  employed 
by  the  rebels  on  fortifications,  and  in  any  military  work. 

3.  Abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

4.  Prohibition  of  slavery  in  all  territories  now  held  or 
hereafter  acquired. 

5.  Liberation  of  the  slaves  of  rebels  and  the  confiscation 
of  their  property. 

6.  Authority  to  the  President  to  call  into  the  service,  in 
any  suitable  way,  persons  of  African  descent. 

7.  A  direct  tax  law  under  which  real  estate,  in  the  rebel 
states,  will  forfeited  and  sold  for  non-payment  of  taxes. 

To  which  may  be  added. 

8.  An  eftective  treaty  with  Great  Britian  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  African  Slave  Trade. 

9.  Recognition  of  Hayti  and  Liberia. 

I  have  thus  presented  a  rapid  historical  survey  of  the 
ground  work  of  the  great  struggle.  From  this  brief  sum- 
mary you  see  at  a  glance  that  the  whole  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment on  the  subject  of  slavery  has  been  changed. 

These  acts  are  the  work  of  Cona-ress  and  the  President. 
They  are  the  laws  of  the  land.  They  are  the  considered 
and  carefully  matured  policy  of  the  administration  in  its 
efforts  to  put  down  the  rebellion.  The  wisdom  of  these 
acts  was  demonstrated  by  the  necessities  of  the  occasion. 
The  fact  is,  this  rebellion  is  the  best  school-master  ever 
sent  abroad  in  the  land — and  he  must  be  a  dunce  and  a 
blockhead  who  can  not  learn  something  from  his  teachings. 
Your  public  men  may  not  be  more  patriotic,  but  they  are 
wiser  now  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  struggle. 

It  will  not  do  to  call  these  acts  abolitionism.  They  re- 
ceived, respectively,  the  approval  of  a  majority  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  approval  of 
the  President.  If  they  are  abolitionism,  then  a  majority 
of  Congress,  and  the  President  himself  are  abolitionists. 
They  are  law.  And  the  adminstration  now  comes  to  you — 
the  people — and  asks  you,  "  Shall  we  be  sustained  in  pro- 
secuting this  war  upon  the  only  grounds",  and  in  the  only 
manner,  which  we  in  the  exercise  of  our  best  judgment, 
deem  to  be  practicable  or  promising  success?  " 


Address  before  Military  Meeting.  331 

You  have  asked  for  a  change  of  policy — you  have  com- 
plained for  the  want  of  a  policy — now  it  is  presented  to 
you — clear — well  defined — thorough — will  you  sustain  the 
President  in  carrying  it  out  ?  President  Lincoln  is  a  true 
and  patriotic  man.  He  will  carry  out  a  policy  which  his 
judgment  approves. 

He  does  approve  these  acts,  for  they  all  bear  his  signature 
or  they  could  not  be  law.  It  can  not  be  supposed  that 
rebel  property  will  be  the  special  object  of  military  protec- 
tion for  the  owners,  when  the  law  of  the  land  declares  it 
confiscated.  Add  up  the  different  liberation  acts,  and  it 
will  be  found  that  slavery  has  received  its  death-blow  ;  and 
only  awaits  the  burial  of  its  dishonored  corpse  out  of  the 
nation's  sight.  The  President  has  a  way  of  changing  his 
generals.  I  do  not  say  that  he  will  change,  but  I  do  feel 
strong  confidence  that  this  policy,  now  fully  adopted  by 
him,  will  be  carried  out  earnestly,  and  in  good  faith. 

A  word  in  regard  to  the  propriety  and  reasonableness  of 
the  more  important  of  these  acts.  War  is  a  question  ot 
brains,  and  muscle  and  money.  Every  nation  has  a  right 
to  all  its  resources,  to  be  used  for  its  own  self-preservation. 
The  people  born  upon  its  soil  are  a  part  of  its  resources. 
The  negroes  are  a  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  land.  They 
Jhave  muscle  if  nothing  else.  Muscle  is  what  you  want. 
Their  muscle  has  a  peculiar  adaptation  to  war  service  in 
the  more  tropical  portions  of  our  extended  country.  Why 
should  not  the  nation  avail  itself  of  this  resource  ;  and  save 
your  own  neighbors  and  relatives,  who  otherwise  must 
perform  the  service  and  must  necessarily  fall  victims  to  the 
exposures,  and  drudgeries  of  a  hostile  climate?  l^o  civil- 
ized nation  on  earth  would  hesitate  a  moment  to  make  use 
of  such  a  resource.  England  governs  a  hundred  millions 
in  India  with  a  soldiery  more  degraded  than  southern 
slaves,  and  not  much  better  looking.  You  will  never  con- 
quer and  hold  in  proper  submission  to  the  laws,  the  Gulf 
states,  unless  you  enlist  all  their  loyal  people  on  your  side. 
You  may  find  there  a  graveyard  for  your  armies,  but  no 
home  and  abiding  place  for  the  constitution  and  the  laws, 
until  you  have  a  native,  acclimated,  loyal  people,  out  of  whom 


332  Appendix. 

to  form  a  military  force  of  sufficient  strength  to  hold,  as 
well  as  to  conquer.  It  is  true  that  a  proper  submission  and 
obedience  on  the  part  of  the  rebels  would  prevent  any  such 
necessity — but  it  will  not  do  to  depend  upon  the  good 
nature,  or  repentance  of  sucli  reprobates.  Too  much  time 
has  already  been  expended  in  throwing  tufts  of  grass  at 
these  rude  plunderers — resort  must  be  had  to  harder  am- 
munition, and  every  resource  that  the  country  affords  must 
be  put  into  requisition  to  bring  them  down. 

The  President  has  said,  "  It  is  startling  to  say  that  Con- 
gress has  power  to  liberate  slaves  within  a  state."  True, 
it  is  startling.  But  it  is  the  startling  voice  of  a  resurrection 
trumpet  bidding  a  slumbering  nation  to  awake  to  right- 
eousness— calling  them  from  the  dead  works  of  despotism 
to  a  new  life.  With  this  new  policy  thus  clearly  and  well 
defined,  you  stand  to-day  wdiere  your  fathers  stood  when 
they  threw  to  the  breeze  the  banner  of  Independence  and 
Liberty — when  they  traced  with  sword  points  upon  the 
firmament  of  heaven,  so  that  all  nations  might  read,  these 
memorable  words — "  All  men  are  created  equal  and  are 
endowed  by  their  creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights, 
among  which  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  " 
— when  they  incorporated  into  the  constitution  the  guar- 
antee that  "  no  man  should  be  deprived  of  liberty  without 
due  process  of  law."  Your  fathers  acted  well  their  part. 
To-day  you  are  cast  down  by  disaster  and  apparent  defeat. 
The  great  characteristic  of  their  struggle  was  not  the  brill- 
iancy nor  frequency  of  their  victories,  but  their  ability  to 
endure  defeat — their  courage  and  resolution  in  grappling 
with  the  disasters  and  discouragements  of  a  seven  years' 
war.  To  you  they  were  the  trustees  of  a  glorious  legacy. 
They  have  fulfilled  their  trust,  you  are  now  called  upon  to 
act  as  trustees,  in  handing  the  same  inestimable  treasure 
down  to  tlic  latest  posterity.  Xo  generation  for  the  past 
six  centuries,  struggling  for  popular  rights,  has  been  so 
highly  honored  as  you  are,  by  the  importance  of  the  trust 
committed  to  your  charge.  You  are  called  upon  to  furnish 
more  men.  This  is  a  demand  for  vour  blood — not  to  be 
spent  in  the  unhallowed  service  of  ambition — but  to  pre- 


Address  before  Military  Meeting.  333 

serve  your  own  property  from  ruin — to  rescue  constitutional 
liberty  from  a  vile  and  dishonored  grave — to  secure  a  per- 
manent and  enduring  peace  to  your  country. 

Remember  that  you  are  not  merely  theoretically  the 
sovereigns  of  this  country — these  pleasant  homes  and  fire- 
sides are  your  own — these  house  lots  and  farms  are  yours. 
You  own  this  country,  and  therefore  have  a  right  to  rule  it. 
The  preservation  of  the  nation's  life  in  this  hour  of  peril 
is  your  business — no  one  else  will  attend  to  it  for  you.  Be 
not  discouraged  by  desperate  dashes  the  enemy  are  said  to 
be  making  on  territory  supposed  to  have  been  conquered. 
Let  them  advance.  It  may  be  the  surest  and  quickest 
way  to  surround  and  capture  them. 

Your  President  calls  for  300,000  more  men.  The  quota 
for  this  county  is  300.  Let  it  be  filled  up  promptly,  for 
this  work  to  be  well  done,  must  be  done  quickly. 

You  have  a  well  defined,  thorough  policy  embodied  in 
the  permanent  legislation  of  the  country — with  as  honest 
and  patriotic  an  executive  as  ever  breathed,  to  carry  it  out. 

Your  agents,  who  have  spent  months  of  anxious  labor — 
who  have  watched  with  sleepless  vigilance  the  great  issues 
of  the  nation's  life,  now  come  and  throw  upon  you  the  re- 
ponsibility  of  this  mighty  enterprise. 


REMARKS   OF   HON.  W.  P.  CUTLER 

AT  THE  TWENTY-FIFTH  ANNUAL  MEETING  OF  THE  SOCIETY  FOR 
THE  PROMOTION  OF  COLLEGIATE  AND  THEOLOGICAL  EDU- 
CATION IN  THE  WEST,  HELD  IN  THE  CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCH,    MARIETTA,    OHIO,    NOVEMBER    9,    1868. 

Mr.  President : — If  that  old  Yankee  enterprise,  sir, 
known  in  its  day  as  the  "  Ohio  Company,"  could  be  prop- 
erly represented  here  to-night,  its  delegate  would  be  en- 
titled to  a  seat  as  a  corresponding  member  because, 
although  it  can  not  be  claimed  that  such  was  its  main  in- 
tent and  purpose,  yet  it  is  true  that  the  Ohio  Company  did 


334  Appendix. 

eetablieh  the  first  college  north-west  of  the  Ohio  river.  A 
brief  recurrence  to  the  facts  connected  with  that  early  en- 
terprise may  not  be  uninteresting. 

The  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  found  a  people  vic- 
torious, but  a  government  bankrupt.  The  men  who  had 
borne  the  heat  and  burden  of  that  day  found  no  pay- 
masters on  their  return  to  be  mustered  out,  with  well- 
replenished  stocks  of  legal-tenders,  to  meet  their  just  de- 
mands for  services  rendered.  The  best  that  could  be 
done  was  to  accept  army  warrants,  or  certificates  of  in- 
debtedness, for  the  payment  of  which  not  a  dollar  was  pro- 
vided. But  they  were  not  disposed  to  clamor  around  the 
portals  of  a  newly  formed  government,  embarrassed  with 
the  poverty  and  exhaustion  of  war.  Their  own  private 
fortunes  had  been  greatly  impaired,  or  entirely  sacrificed. 
They  needed  support  for  their  families ;  money  was  out  of 
the  question;  therefore,  tl:yey  said  to  the  government: 
"  Give  us  lands  for  a  home,  and  accept  our  army  war- 
rants for  at  least  a  portion  of  the  payment."  To  carry  out 
this  plan,  the  "Ohio  Company"  was  formed  in  March, 
1786,  composed  mainly^ of  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary army  residing  in  the  New  England  States. 

Nathan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts,  was  the  immmediate 
representative  in  Congress  for  a  large  proportion  of  the 
gentlemen  engaged  in  the  enterprise. 

The  Ohio  Company  itself,  after  its  organization,  selected 
suitable  agents  to  represent  their  interests  and  wishes 
before  Congress,  then  in  session  in  New  York,  with 
authority  to  negotiate  for  the  purchase  of  a  tract  of  West- 
ern land.  The  principal  agent  thus  employed  by  the 
company  was  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  LL.D.,  an  intimate 
personal  friend  and  neighbor  of  Mr.  Dane.  In  negotiating 
the  terms  of  the  land  purchase,  the  agent  of  the  company 
insisted  upon  the  grant  by  Congress  of  two  townships  of 
land,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  college,  and  also  that 
section  29  in  each  township  should  be  set  apart  for  the 
support  of  religion.  Congress  had  previously  set  apart 
section  16  for  school  purposes. 

It  is  to  the  direct  agency  of  the  Ohio  Company,  sup- 


Address  before  Collegiate  and  Theological  Society.      335 

ported  by  Mr.  Dane,  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  the 
Western  Territory,  that  the  North-west  is  indebted  for 
its  first  college,  the  Ohio  University,  and,  indeed,  for  the 
Miami  University  also,  as  Judge  Symmes  made  applica- 
tion for  his  purchase  in  precisely  the  same  terms  as  had 
been  arranged  with  the  Ohio  Compan}^,  except  that  he 
accepted  one  township  for  a  college  instead  of  two.  But 
it  is  not  alone  in  this  important  matter  of  providing  for 
the  higher  institutions  of  learning  that  we  are  indebted 
to  the  wisdom,  foresight,  and  correct  principles  of  New 
England  men,  in  connection  with  the  early  settlement  of 
the  North-west. 

It  is  also  true,  that  these  men,  acting  under  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  an  effort  to  secure  homes  for  themselves 
and  their  children,  as  well  as  to  repair  fortunes  sacrificed 
in  their  country's  service,  looked  well  to  the  foundations 
of  civil  government,  to  provide  for  law  as  well  as  to  pur- 
chase land. 

Their  voice  was  positive  and  influential  in  forming  that 
grand  old  organic  law  known  as  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 
And  here  I  am  compelled  to  correct  a  prevalent  error, 
which  I  do  without  regret,  as  I  always  like  to  knock  a 
popular  lie  on  the  head. 

The  general  impression  seems  to  be  that  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son was  the  author  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  This  is  en- 
tirely incorrect,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  was  not  a  member  of 
Congress  at  the  time  of  its  passage,  and  was  not  then  in 
the  country. 

In  making  this  statement,  I  do  not  wish  to  undervalue  or 
disparage  Mr.  Jefferson's  services  to  his  country ;  I  only 
mean  to  say  that  he  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
enactment  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

It  may  be  proper  to  explain  the  probable  source  of  this 
popular  misapprehension.  On  the  23d  of  April,  1784, 
Congress  passed  an  ordinance  for  the  "  temporary  govern- 
ernment  of  the  "Western  Territory,"  which  had  been  re- 
ported by  a  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was  a  mem- 
ber. This  ordinance,  when  reported  by  the  committee,  con- 
tained a  provision  excluding  slavery  "  after  the  year  1800." 


336  Appendix. 

This  particular  provision  was,  however,  struck  out  of  the 
report  before  it  was  adopted  by  Congress.  It  may  be  en- 
tirely proper  to  call  this  report  of  the  committee  as  adopted 
by  Congress  a  "  JefFersonian  Ordinance,"  although  as 
adopted  it  contained  nothing  whatever  in  regard  to  slavery. 
Even  the  provision  as  reported  to  Congress  by  the  com- 
mittee, was  of  no  practical  value,  for  if  slavery  had  ac- 
quired a  foothold  in  the  Western  Territory  of  sixteen 
years,  from  1784  to  1800,  it  never  would  have  been  driven 
out,  except  by  the  sword.  This  was  the  defect  in  the 
merely  philosophical  view  which  Jefferson  took  of  that 
subject — theoretically  opposed  to  it,  but  with  no  practical 
plan  for  its  overthrow.  When  the  sturdy  Puritan  came 
to  deal  wath  the  same  subject  in  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  the 
door  was  shut  in  the  intruder's  face,  and  he  was  bidden 
never  to  cross  the  threshold.  To  confirm  the  statement  I 
have  made,  that  ^ew  England  men  composing  the  Ohio 
Company  were  influential  in  procuring  the  passage  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787,  and  in  giving  positive  tone  to  its  enact- 
ments, two  considerations  are,  I  think,  sufficient : 

First.  The  intimate  relations  existing  between  Mr. 
Dane,  an  active  member  of  the  committee  reporting  the 
ordinance,  and  the  agent  employed  by  the  Ohio  Company 
to  negotiate  the  purchase  of  land,  as  well  as  the  fact  that 
the  largest  number  of  share-holders  in  that  company  w^ere 
Mr.  Dane's  constituents,  thus  necessarily  enlisting  a  com- 
mon and  strong  sympathy  for  an  object  of  great  personal 
interest  to  themselves,  as  well  as  of  importance  to  the 
country. 

Second.  The  following  entries,  made  in  a  private  journal 
kept  at  the  time  by  Dr.  Cutler,  prove  that  the  work  upon 
the  ordinance  w^as  a  joint  labor  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
mittee having  it  in  charge,  and  those  who,  in  looking 
westward  for  their  future  homesteads,  were  more  than  any 
others  interested  in  its  provisions.  Under  date  of  July 
10,  1787  (after  having  previously  referred  to  several  con- 
ferences with  the  committee),  he  makes  the  following 
statement :  "As  Congress  was  now  engaged  in  settling 
the  form  of   Government  for  the  Federal    Territory,  for 


Address  before  Collegiate  and  Theological  Society.     337 

which  a  Bill  had  been  prepared,  and  a  copy  sent  to  me, 
with  leave  to  make  remarks  and  propose  amendments,  and 
which  I  had  taken  the  liberty  to  remark  upon  and  propose 
several  amendments,  I  thought  this  the  most  favorable 
opportunity  to  go  on  to  Philadelphia.  Accordingly,  after 
I  had  returned  the  bill  with  my  observations,  I  set  out  at 
seven  o'clock." 

After  returning  to  New  York,  from  his  visit  to  Phila- 
delphia (where  the  convention  forming  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States  was  then  in  session),  the  ordinance  hav- 
ing been  passed  during  his  absence,  he  makes  the  follow- 
ing entry  in  his  journal :  "  Was  furnished  with  the  Ordi- 
nance establishing  a  Government  in  the  Federal  Terri- 
tory. It  is,  in  a  degree,  new-modeled.  The  Amendments 
I  proposed  have  all  been  made,  except  one,  and  that  is 
better  qualified,  etc." 

Not  to  pursue  this  subject  further,  I  think  the  evidence 
is  conclusive  that  New  England  men  did  have  a  positive 
influence  in  shaping  the  provisions  of  the  Ordinance  of 
1787,  and  that  Thomas  Jefferson  did  not.  I  believe  the 
impression  that  it  was  indebted  to  the  latter  source  for  its 
anti-slavery  provision  has  arisen  in  part  from  an  effort  of 
party  leaders  on  my  own  side  politically,  to  convince  the 
Democratic  party  that  they  ought  to  adopt  anti-slavery 
views  on  the  ground  that  their  great  founder  and  leader 
held  such  sentiments.  But  I  consider  all  this  as  "  love's 
labor  lost,"  and  it  can  do  no  harm  to  knock  from  under 
the  main  support  of  such  an  appeal. 

I  think,  Mr.  President,  that  the  time  has  come  when  we 
ought  to  look  carefully  into  this  thing  of  laying  foundations. 

The  lessons  of  history  belong  to  us  and  our  children. 

The  influence  of  early  theories  and  organic  ideas  fixed 
in  the  structures  of  states  and  communities,  will  remain 
through  future  life,  giving  direction  for  weal  or  woe  to 
future  growth,  and  deciding,  ultimately,  their  destiriies. 

The  homely  adage,  "just  as  the  twig  is  bent,  the  tree's 
inclined,"  is  just  as  true  of  communities  as  of  individuals. 
If  it  be  true  that  every  idle  word  shall  be  called  into  judg- 
22 


338  Appendix. 

ment,  so  is  it  also  true  th^i  false  icords  and  false  j^rinci pies 
woven  into  national  structures  and  cherished,  as  they  will 
be,  in  national  growth,  will  bring  retribution  and  ruin. 

Allow  me  to  present  some  illustrations  and  contrasts. 
In  1671,  Sir  William  Berkely,  then  governor  of  Virginia, 
was  inquired  of  by  the  Lords  Commissioners  as  to  religion 
and  other  instruction  in  that  colony.  He  replied :  "  I 
thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing ;  and  I 
hope  we  shall  not  have  these  hundred  years,  for  learning 
has  brought  disobedience,  heresy,  and  sects  into  the  world, 
and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and  libels  against  the 
best  governments.     God  keep  us  from  both." 

The  author  of  this  pious  wish  has  surely  received  double 
measure  in  fulfillment,  for  nearly  two  hundred  years  have 
rolled  by,  and  Virginia  has  never  had  a  free  school  or  a 
free  press. 

In  an  early  constitution  of  South  Carolina,  prepared  by 
the  great  philosopher,  John  Locke,  it  was  provided : 
"  Since  multiplicity  of  comments,  as  well  as  of  laws,  have 
great  inconveniences  and  serve  only  to  obscure  and  per- 
plex, all  manner  of  comments  or  expositions  on  any  part 
of  these  fundamental  constitutions,  or  any  part  of  the 
common  or  statute  law  of  Carolina,  are  absolutely  pro- 
hibited." Again  he  says :  "  It  shall  be  a  base  and  vile 
thing  to  plead  for  money  or  reward." 

Kentucky,  in  her  infancy,  adopted  the  resolutions  of 
1798.  Those  resolutions  contained  the  seeds  of  secession 
and  rebellion.  That  was  the  devil  sewing  tares  in  our 
wheat-field.  At  a  later  date  she  incorporated  into  her  or- 
,  ganic  law  the  following  provision  (article  13,  section  3) : 
"  That  the  right  of  property  is  before  and  higher  than  any 
constitutional  sanction ;  that  the  right  of  the  owner  of  a 
slave  to  such  slave,  and  its  increase,  is  the  same  and  as 
inviolable  as  the  right  of  the  owner  of  any  property  what- 
ever." 

Mr.  President,  I  regard  that  as  the  most  atrocious  sen- 
timent ever  wrapped  up  human  language,  and  if  the  ques- 
tion were  asked,  "What  ails  Kentucky?"  I  should  point 
to  that  organic  provision  and  reply,  "  That's  what's  the 


Address  before  Collegiate  and  Theological  Society.      339 

matter,"  When  she  swallowed  that,  and  the  resolutions 
of  1798,  she  had  taken  strychnine  enough  to  kill  a  com- 
monwealth. I  know,  sir,  that  we  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  forbearing  any  comments  of  this  kind,  because  they 
relate  to  "  sister  states,"  but  I  am  unwilling  to  spoil  a  use- 
ful lesson  for  relations'  sake.  In  all  these  cases,  false 
words,  false  theories,  false  ideas,  have  borne  bitter  fruits, 
and  it  is  unwise  and  puerile  for  us  not  to  heed  the  warn- 
ing. 

J^ow,  sir,  allow  me  to  refer  briefly  to  the  character  of 
that  organic  law,  whose  true  history  I  have  endeavored  to 
state. 

After  providing  a  form  of  government,  the  object  of  the 
ordinance  itself  is  declared  to  be,  "  for  extending  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which 
form  the  basis  whereon  these  republics,  their  laws  and 
constitutions,  are  erected ;  to  fix  and  establish  these  prin- 
ciples as  the  basis  of  all  laws,  constitutions,  and  govern- 
ments which  forever  hereafter  shall  be  formed  in  said  ter- 
ritory." Then  follow  six  "  articles  of  compact  between 
the  original  states  and  the  people  and  states  in  said  terri- 
tory, to  remain  forever  unalterable  unless  by  common  con- 
sent." 

These  articles  provide  for  : 

1st.  Freedom  of  religious  worship. 

2d.  A  "bill  of  rights" — that  is,  a  clear  definition  and 
declaration  of  the  rights  of  the  individual,  embracing  the 
essential  safeguards  to  person  and  property.  In  this  re- 
spect it  may  be  stated,  that  the  ordinance  anticipates  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that  instrument  having 
been  ratified  by  the  states  without  a  "  bill  of  rights," 
which  was  afterward  incorporated  as  an  amendment. 

Article  3d,  has  the  following  provision :  "  Religion, 
morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  govern- 
ment and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the 
means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

That,  sir,  is  a  "  beautiful  foundation  stone,"  cut  from 
the  pure  granite,  by  ^N'ew  England  hands ;  a  basis  strong 


340  Appendix. 

enougli  and  broad  enough  for  the  mightiest  empire  on 
earth. 

It  was  copied  into  the  Constitution  of  Ohio,  and  he- 
came,  in  after  years,  the  principal  lever  in  making  up  her 
present  system  of  free  schools. 

Article  4th  provides,  per  contra  to  the  resolution  of  1798, 
"  That  said  territory,  and  the  states  that  may  be  formed 
therein,  shall  forever  remain  a  part  of  this  confederacy  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  subject  to  the  articles  of 
confederation,  and  to  such  alterations  therein  as  shall  be 
constitutionally  made;  and  to  all  the  acts  and  ordinances 
of  the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  conformable 
thereto." 

It  also  provides,  "  That  the  inhabitants  and  settlers  of 
said  territory,  shall  be  subject  to  pay  a  part  of  the  federal 
debts." 

Article  5th,  provides  for  a  division  of  the  territory  into 
not  less  than  three,  nor  more  than  five  states,  and  for  their 
admission,  with  republican  forms  of  government,  into  the 
Union. 

Article  6th,  prohibits  the  introduction  of  slavery. 

This  brief  synopsis  of  some  of  its  leading  provisions, 
shows  with  what  care  and  prudent  foresight  the  fathers 
"  dug  deep  and  laid  broad  the  foundations  of  many  gen- 
erations." They  intended  to  found  a  civil  and  political 
structure  based  upon  the  "  eternal  principles  of  order  and 
of  right ; "  a  structure  extending  over  all  the  territory 
then  belonging  to  the  United  States. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  I  don't  pretend  to  know  much 
about  that  hated  and  reviled  "  ism  "  called  "  Puritanism." 
My  connection  with  it  is  remote ;  being  only  that  of  hon- 
est inheritance.  But  I  suppose  that,  aside  from  personal 
religious  experience  (a  matter  not  appropriate  for  public 
discussion  or  criticism),  about  all  there  is  of  political  Pu- 
ritanism is  wrapped  up  in  that  ordinance  of  1787.  I  think 
it  is  nearly  all  in  there  ;  and  "  that's  what's  the  matter  " 
with  the  North-west.  She  has  Puritanism  in  her  bones, 
and  I  thank  God  for  it. 


Partial  List  of  Addresses  and  Papers.  341 


PARTIAL   LIST 

OF    PUBLISHED    ADDRESSES    AND    PAPERS  OF   WILLIAM  P.  CUTLER. 

Address  before  the  Literary  Societies  of  Marietta  Col- 
lege, July,  1848. 

Speech  at  Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  May,  1857. 

Speech  in  Congress,  April  23,  1862. — Slavery  a  Public 
Enemy. 

Speech  before  military  meeting  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  July 
19,  1862. 

Address  at  Belpre,  Ohio,  July  4,  1865. — Duty  of  Citi- 
zens in  the  Work  of  Reconstruction. 

Address  before  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Collegiate 
and  Theological  Education  in  the  West,  Marietta,  Ohio, 
IsTovember  9,  1868. 

Address  at  ninety-fifth  anniversary  first  settlement  of 
Ohio,  Marietta,  Ohio,  April  7,  1883. 

Address  at  Semi-Ceutennial  of  Marietta  College,  July 
1,  1885. — Memorial  of  Deceased  Trustees. 

Address  at  ninety-eighth  anniversary  first  settlement  of 
Ohio,  Marietta,  Ohio,  April  7,  1886. 

Address  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  December  31,  1886. — Land 
Tenure  :  Its  Influence  on  National  and  Social  Well-being. 

Address  before  Ohio  Historical  and  Archfeological  So- 
ciety, Columbus,  Ohio,  February  23, 1887. — The  Ordinance 
of  1787. 

Address  before  Ohio  Teachers'  Association,  Akron,  Ohio, 
June  29,  1887. — Religious,  Moral,  and  Educational  Feat- 
ures of  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

Report  of  Monument  Committee,  Ohio  Historical  and 
Archaeological  Society,  Marietta,  Ohio,  April  5,  1888. 

Address  before  Ohio  Historical  and  Archaeological 
Society,  Marietta,  Ohio,  June  26,  1888. — Memorial  of 
Israel  Ward  Andrews. 

Paper  on  the  Private  Contract  clause  of  the  Ordinance 


342  Appendix. 

of  1787.  Published  in  the  Magazine  of  American  His- 
tory, December,  1889. 

Reports,  circulars,  and  Exhibits  of  the  Marietta  and  Cin- 
cinnati Railroad  Company,  from  1848  to  1868,  inclusive, 
except  the  Annual  Report  for  1855. 

Report  of  the  Citizens'  Committee  on  the  Old  Line  of 
the  Marietta  and  Cincinnati  Railroad,  1881. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  John  Quincy,  181-194,  194-196 

Addy,  Rev.  Dr.  W.,  316,  317 

Agricultural  Address,  199-205 

Agricultural  Society,  196,  197,  198 

Ames,  Rev.  Bishop  Edward,  51n 

Ames,  Hon.  Fisher,  38,  48 

Ames  Library,  50,  51 

Ames,  Silvanus,  49 

Ames  Township,  38,  42,  47-51,  85n,  89 

American  Friend,  133 

Andrews,  Prof.  E.  B.,  181,  270 

Andrews,  President  I.  W.,  266,  314,  315 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  84 

Athens  Presbytery,  89,  232,  267 

Atkins,  Rev.  Elisha,  12,  17,  21,  229,  230 

Atwater,  Caleb,  129,  135,  165,  169,  251-252n 

Bailey,  Seth,  87 

Balch,  Rev.  Thomas,  3n,  4 

Baldwin,  Michael,  55,  74,  76,  77 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  R.  R.,  212-228,  284,  289 

Banks,  120,  125,  127-128 

Barber,  Josiah,  1/59 

Barber,  Hon.  Levi,  159n-160,  182,  209 

Barbour,  Governor,  235,  237,  238 

Barker,  Colonel  Joseph,  204,  243 

Barker,  Joseph,  195,  215,  224 

Bartlej',  Governor  Mordecai,  281 

Battelle,  Colonel  Ebenezer,  25n 

Becket,  Esq.,  19 

Beecher,  Philemon,  193 

Belknap,  Ira,  235,  236n 

Bell,  James,  129 

Belpre,  18n,  24,  25n 

Belpre  and  Cincinnati  R.  R.,  284 

Beman,  Rev.  Dr.,  233,  234 

Bent,  Colonel  Silas,  25n 

Big  Bottom,  201 

Bingham,  Alvin  and  Silas,  204,  254n 


(343) 


344  Index. 

Blickensderfer,  Jacob,  151 

Boyle,  Hugh,  46-47 

Boyles,  Colonel  A.,  40,  49 

Bradford,  Major  Robert,  25n,  203n 

Brant,  John,  94 

Bronson,  Dr.  A.  F.,  235,  236n 

Brown,  Rev.  Aaron,  2,  12 

Brown,  Hon.  A.  G.,  40,  181,  254 

Brown,  Captain  Benjamin,  36,  37,  38,  39,  255,  256 

Brown,  Governor  Ethan  Allen,  118n,  168 

Brown,  General  John,  50n,  88 

Brown,  Joseph,  42,  43,  50n 

Brown,  Esq.,  Samuel,  51,  85,  87 

Browne,  John  W.,  67,  74,  75,  76 

Buckingham,  Ebenezei%  139,  151,  154 

Buell,  General  Joseph,  30,  204 

Burnet,  Hon.  Jacob,  52,  55,  56,  57,  68n,  204,  235,  236n 

Burnham,  William,  204 

Burnside,  General,  298,  300 

Byrd,  Charles  W.,  69,  70,  71,  73 

Caldwell,  James,  70 

Calhoun,  John  C,  182,  194 

Campbell,  Dr.,  120 

Canal,  Ohio  and  Erie,  116,  122,  123,  161,  167 

Carhart,  Samuel,  204 

Carpenter,  Emanuel,  70 

Case,  Leonard,  151,  154 

Cass,  Lewis,  253n  • 

Chabert,  Colonel  F.  Joncaire,  53,  56 

Chambers,  David,  262 

Chillicothe,  52,  55 

Circular,  App.,  319 

Clark,  Sherebiah,  134 

Clay,  Henry,  113,  182,  194 

Clearing  land,  30,  38,  40,  48,  87,  88 

Clinton,  DeWitt,  182,  183 

Coburn.  Major  Asa,  26,  203n 

Cole,  John,  87,  111 

Cole,  Philip,  87,  173 

Cole,  Richard,  97.  98 

Collins,  John,  129 

Columbus  and  Hocking  Valley  Railroad,  308-310 

Cone,  Timothy,  87 

Congress,  Thirty-seventh,  290-304 

Constitution  P.  0.,  254n 


Index.  345 

Convention,  Constitutional,  1802,  65-82 

Constitutional  Convention  1850,  283 

Convers,  Benjamin,  16,  26,  203 n 

Convers,  Colonel  Daniel,  26n,  168 

Convers,  Wright,  38,  105,  106 

Cooke,  Eleutheros,  170 

Corey,  Mrs.,  120 

Corvvin,  Mathias,  151 

Cotton,  Dr.  John,  154,  162n 

Courts,  41,  70-73 

Cox,  General  J.  D.,  304-305 

Craig,  Neville  B.,  246-248 

Crary,  Colonel  Archibald,  203n 

Crawford,  W.  H.,  179,  181,  183,  184,  185,  194 

Crook,  Major-General  George,  292 

Cushing,  Colonel  Nathaniel,  25,  203n 

Cutler,  A.  M.,  Charles,  49n,  50 

Cutler,  Charles,  4n,  39n,  42,  91,  94,  102 

Cutler,  Clarissa  W.,  263n 

Cutler,  Daniel  C,  39n,  86 

Cutler,  Hezekiah,  2,  9n,  10,  12,  15,  265 

Cutler,  Jervis,  14,  26,  89,  272-279 

Cutler,  Leah  Atwood,  14,  17,  21,  39,  85,  86n 

Cutler,  Rev.  Dr.  M.,  2-8,  35n,  51,  65,  82,  104,  113,  176,  196,  231,  265,  272 

Cutler,  Mary,  39n 

Cutler,  Nancy,  17,  39n 

Cutler,  Sally  Parker,  88,  117-123,  164,  167,  262,  263n 

Cutler,  Sarah,  263n 

Cutler,  Susanna  Clark,  2,  9n 

Cutler,  Temple,  86 

Cutler,  William  Parker,  114,  270,  280-318 

Dale,' Theodore  D.,  314 

Dana,  Captain  William,  25n,  203 

Davis,  Captain  Daniel,  26,  28 

Darlington,  Joseph,  53,  56,  70,  258 

Delihunt,  Mr.,  96,  97 

Devol,  Francis,  198 

Devol,  Judge  Gilbert,  26,  29 

Devol,  Captain  Jonathan,  25n,  195,  201,  203n 

Dodge,  Francis,  186 

Dodge,  Captain  John,  26,  29,  35 

Donelson,  Israel,  74,  76,  77n,  259,  260 

Droving,  13,  89-103,  134 

Dunham,  Amos,  87 

Dunlavy,  Judge  Francis,  53,  56,  57,  71-73,  74,  76,  82 


846  Index. 

Earthquakes,  108-110 

Eichelberger,  Thomas,  99,  100 

Ely,  Seneca  W.,  286 

Everett,  Moses,  49 

Ewart,  Hon.  T.  W.,  313 

Ewing,  Lieutenant  George,  31,  36,  37,  40,  42 

Ewing,  Hon.  Thonias,  50n,  51,  295n 

Fearing,  Henry,  198 

Fearing,  Hon.  Paul,  23,  52,  58,  61n,  61-65,  124,  196,  204 

Finch,  Ezekiel,  87 

Findley,  General  James,  52,  83n,  204 

Flint,  Hezekiah,  203n 

Floods,  110,  111 

Ford,  William,  43 

Fort  Frye,  25,  26,  30 

Fort  Harmar,  22 

Frothingham,  203n 

Fuller,  Timothy,  187,  188,  192n 

Gallipolis,  32,  44,  49 

Gardner,  James  B.,  119,  122 

Gatch,  Philip,  70 

Gates,  Beman,  244,  285,  286,  317 

Gates,  Captain  E.,  203 n 

Gilman,  B.  Ives,  23,  31,  44,  66,  68,  70,  72,  73,  76,  78,  80n,  81,  204 

Gilman,  Hon.  Joseph,  23,  54,  81,  204 

Glades,  Alleghany,  91,  92,  95,  96,  103 

Glazier,  Abel,  49 

Goddard,  Hon.  C.  B.,  283 

Goforth,  Dr.  Wm.,  72,  74,  76 

Goodale,  Major  Nathan,  25,  201,  203n 

Goodale,  Dr.  Lincoln,  139,  153,  154,  190 

Grant,  General  U.  S.,  293,  298,  304 

Gray,  Captain  Wm.,  25,  26,  29,  30,  35,  203n 

Green,  Chas.,  23,  204 

Green,  Hon.  Griffin,  23,  44,  66,  204 

Grubb,  James,  74,  76 

Guilford,  Hon.  Nathan,  129,  154,  168 

Hamilton,  Massachusetts,  231 
Hamills,  91,  94 
Hagar,  Mr.,  95,  96,  97 
Harper,  William,  204 
Harper,  Charles,  207 
Harris,  Rev.  Dr.  Thaddeus,  51 


Index.  347 

Harrison,  General  W.  H.,  168,  169,  204,  236,  237,  241,  248,  250 

Haskell,  Major  Jonathan,  25n 

Heard,  John,  106,  107 

Heart,  Jonathan,  203n 

Heckewelder,  Rev.  Mr.,  18 

Henderson,  Alexander,  196,  197 

Higley,  Brewster,  204 

Hildreth,  Dr.  S.  P.,  190,  204n,  205,  209,  241,  242,  254 

Historical  Society  of  Ohio,  242,  244,  246 

Hoge,  Rev.  Dr.  James,  123,  129,  140,  169,  177 

Hollister,  Judson  J.,  306 

Howe,  Samson,  15,  230 

Humphreys,  Isaac,  87,  173,  207,  212 

Huntington,  Governor  Samuel,  69n,  70,  78 

Hutchins,  Thomas,  110 

Hutchinson,  William,  87 

Indians,  2,  16,  22,  23,  25,  26,  31,  33,  41,  105,  248-251,  260 
Ingersol,  Captain  George,  203n 

Jackson,  Andrew,  105,  106,  182,  186,  187,  189,  192,  194 

James,  Captain  William,  55n 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  74,  75n,  193 

Jennings,  David,  119,  139 

Johnston,  Colonel  John,  236,  248-251  n 

Journeys,  17-22,  38-41,  90-103,  115,  116 

Kelly,  Mr.,  120 
Killingly,  2,  8-17,  229-231 
Kimberly,  Zenas,  53,  57 
King,  Captain  Zebulon,  25n,  201 
Kingsbury,  Rev.  Dr.  A.,  89 
Kinne,  Nathan,  26 
Kirker,  Thomas,  70,  162 
Knowles,  Captain  Charles,  203n 

Lafayette,  General,  155,  202 

Langham,  Major  Elias,  53 

Legislature,  Ohio,  112,  117-127,  134-138,  139-143, 147,  148,  150-175,  280- 

283 
Legislature,  Territorial,  43,  44,  52-57 
Letters  from — 

Atwater,  Caleb,  165-166,  169,  251-252 

Barber,  Levi,  160,  182 

Beecher,  Philemon,  193 

Brown,  A.  G.,  181 


348  Index. 

Letters  from — 

Burnet,  Jacob,  68n 

Cass,  Lewis,  253 

Cheever,  Rev.  Geo.  B.,  294 

Child,  Lydia  M.,  293 

Citizens  of  Marietta,  209 

Committee,  R.  R.,  213-215,  223-224 

Convers,  C.  C,  27n 

Convers,  Daniel,  168 

Convers,  Wright,  105-106 

Cooke,  Eleutheros,  170 

Craig,  Neville  B.,  246-248 

Cutler,  Ephraim,  44-45,  47-49,  68n,  104,  108-110,  117-123,  130,  134, 

135-136,  139-143,  153-154,  161,  162,  164,  167,  174,  209-211,  216- 

218,  224-225,  226-228 
Cutler,  Rev.  Dr.  M.,  35n,  65.  82,  104-105,  238,  254,  255 
Cutler,  William  P.,  246 
Dodge,  Francis,  186-187 
Ewing,  Hon.  Thomas,  295n 
Fearing,  Paul,  61-65,  124-125 
Fuller,  Timothy,  187-189,  192-193 
Gates,  Beman,  244 
Gregory,  Jehiel,  66n 
Greely,  Horace,  294 
Heard,  John,  106-107 
Hildreth,  Dr.  S.  P.,  241-242 
Humphreys,  Isaac,  207,  212 
Johnston,  Colonel  John,  248-251 
Lindley,  Rev.  Jacob,  123-124 
Lewis,  A.  H.,  75n 
Mathews,  John,  169 
Meigs,  R.  J.,  58-61 
Moore,  Hon.  E.  H.,  308-311 
Morris,  Calvary,  239,  240 
Munro,  Joseph  F.,  256-258 
Osburn,  Ezra,  165 
Putnam,  David,  125-127,  143-147 
Putnam,  Douglas,  294 
Putnam,  Edwin,  166,  191 
Putnam,  General  Rufus,  85n,  86n 
Putnam,  William  R.,  131-133,  160-161 
Reily,  John,  73n,  260-261 
Ruggles,  Benjamin,  184-185 
Smith,  Gerrit,  293 
Squier,  E.  G,  282-283 
Sullivan,  Samuel,  127-128 


Index.  349 

Letters  from — 

Sulivant,  J.,  244 

Taft,  Hon.  Alphonso,  293 

Tappan,  Lewis,  293 

Vause,  Colonel  Wm.,  103,  104' 

Vinton,  S.  F.,  157-158,  179-180,  182-184,  186,  192,  205 

Ward,  H.  D.,  170,  189-190 

Ward,  Nahuni,  149-150,  158-159 

Wilson,  Noah  L.,  296n 

Wright,  John  C,  185-186 
Levins,  Captain  John,  25n 
Lewis,  Hon.  A.  H.,  75n 
Lindley,  Rev.  Jacob,  88,  123,  140,  177,  268 
Lincoln,  President  A.,  293,  295,  297,  304 
Lincoln,  Joseph,  203n 
Linn,  Colonel,  93 
Little,  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob,  290 
List  of  Revolutionary  Officers,  25n,  203n 
Lord,  Colonel  Abner,  118,  119 
Lord,  Thomas,  204 
Loring,  Daniel,  25n,  204 
Ludlow,  John,  53,  57 

McCarty's  Mill,  92 

McClellan,  General  G.  B.,  296,  297,  299 

McCorkle,  John,  151 

McCune,  Thomas,  53 

McDougail,  George,  53 

McGafifey,  Neal,  203n 

Mclntire,  John,  66n,  76,  80n,  204 

McLane,  Hon.  Lewis,  222,  223,  224 

McMillan,  William,  204 

Madeira,  Colonel  John,  285 

Marietta,  21,  22-24,  29,  162,  163,  164,  194,  198 

Marietta  and  Cincinnati  R.  R.,  285-289,  306-308 

Marietta  College,  314 

Marietta  Historical  Association,  242,  245,  248 

Marietta  Mineral  Railway  Co.,  312-314 

Massie,  General  Nath.,  53,  56,  59n,  70,  78 

Mathews,  John,  ]68n,  169 

Matthews,  Phineas,  17,  19,  20 

Mawney,  Dr.  John,  29 

Meigs,  Colonel  R.  J.,  203 

Meigs,  Governor  R.  J.,  23,  52,  58n,  58-61,  66n,  67,  204 

Memorial  to  Directors  of  B.  &  0.  R.  R.,  218-222 


350  Index. 

Methodists,  39n,  51n,  89,  98 

Middletown,  48 

Miles,  CaptainjBenj.,  25n 

Military  meeting,  Address  before,  App.  326-333 

Miller,  Moses,  53,  56 

Milligan,  John,  53,  76,  77 

Mills^ Colonel  John,  213,  215,  224,  243,  285,  289 

Mills,  Captain  William,  203n 

Moore,  Colonel  H.  C,  287 

Morgan's  Raid,  304,  305 

Morris,  Hon.  Calvary,  167,  212,  239,  240 

Morris,  James  R.,  295 

Morrow,  Governor  Jeremiah,  53,  56n,  75n,  78,  134,  151-153,  157,  159 

Munro,  Captain  Josiah,  23,  27n,  203n,  257n 

Murphy,  General  W.  S.,  235,  236n 

Nashee,  Mr.,  122 

National  Whig  Convention,  234-238 

Nevsrton,  Elias,  85,  87 

Noblaise,  Peter,  32 

Norton,  Judge,  154 

Nye,  Anselm  T.,  196,  243,  281 

Nye,"Arius,  209,  242 

Nye,  William  S.,  285,  286 

Ohio  Company,  5-8,  14,  22,  24,  130-132,  176 

Ohio  Historical  and  Archeeological  Society,  315 

Ohio  University,  123,  139,  140,  143,  166,  167,  176-179,  267,  280. 

Oliver,  Colonel  Alexander,  25n 

Oliver,  Colonel  Robert,  26,  28,  44,  52n,  55,  203n,  204 

Olive  Green,  27,  30,  36,  37,  282 

Olney,  Major  Cogswell,  203n 

Osburn,  Hon.  Ralph,  128 

Paine,  General  Edward,  53,  56 

Panic  of  1873,  311      ' 

Parsons,  General  S.  H.,  6,  23,  37,  201,  203n 

Patton,  Thomas,  87,  173 

Patterson's  creek,  95 

Paul,  John,  70 

Perkins,  Dr.  E.,  254,  255n 

Peters,  Rev.  Dr.,  233,  234 

Pendleton,  Colonel  N.  G.,  235,  236n 

Philips,  Captain  Peter,  203n 

Phillips,  Colonel  R.  E.,  314 

Piatt,  Mr.,  136,  137,  142 


Index.  351 

Pierce,  Hon.  Isaac,  25n,  44,  204 

Political  Campaigns,  52-55,  65-67 

Porter,  Amos,  203n 

Presbyterian  Church,  89,  267,  316 

Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  232-234,  290 

Putnam,  Aaron  W.,  18n,  20,  25n 

Putnam,  Douglas,  198,  285,  289 

Putnam,  David,  125n 

Putnam,  Major  Ezra,  203 n 

Putnam,  George,  18,  20 

Putnam,  Colonel  Israel,  17n,  18-21,  203n 

Putnam,  Jr.,  Israel,  17,  19 

Putnam,  General  Rufus,  6,  7,  14,  22,  23,  29,  54,  66,  67,  68,  70,  73,  76,  78, 

SOn,  81,  83,  85n,  176,  201,  203n,  204 
Putnam,  Hon.  W.  R.,  44n,  47,  52,  53,  55,  56,  57,  66,   130-133,  135,  140, 

160,  194,  204 
Putnam,  Colonel  W.  R.,  304,  305 

Rawlings,  Colonel,  95 

Reeder,  Daniel,  53 

Regiment,  Thirty-sixth  Ohio,  291,  292 

Reiley,  John,  53,  72n,  73n,  SOn,  82,  260,  261 

Rice,  Jason,  49 

Rice,  Major  Oliver,  25n,  203n 

Rice,  Miss  Sally,  89 

Richardson,  Joseph,  118 

Roads,  42,  121,  127,  206-208,  209-211 

Robinson,  John,  204 

Rogers,  Captain  William,  201,  203n 

Ruggles,  Benjamin,  184n 

Runkle,  Colonel  B.  P.,  305 

Sabbath  Schools,  89 

Saflford,  Robert,  204 

Salt,  31,  32 

Sappington,  Dr.,  97 

Sargent,  Major  Winthrop,  6,  7,  201,  203 

Savage  Mountain,  94 

Schedule  of  Names  of  Civil  Officers,  203-204 

Schools,  49,  88,  16],  172 

School  Lands,  43-47,  129-133,  179-181 

School  System,  113-115,  122,  123,  135-137,  172-173 

Schenk,  General,  55 

Schieffehn,  Jonathan,  53,  55,  56,  57 

Scott,  Judge  Thomas,  68 

Secret  Caucus,  298-300,  301,  302,  303 


352  Index. 

Sibley,  Hon.  Hiram  L.,  313 

Sibley,  Hon.  Solomon,  52,  55,  56,  57 

Silliman,  Wyllis,  168,  169 

Skinner,  William,  66,  139,  142 

Slavery,  66,  74-77,  82,  94,  121,  122,  266,  290,  294,  321-326 

Smith,  John,  53,  70,  73,  78,  82 

Smith,  Orland,  289,  313 

Smith,  General  T.  C.  H.,  289 

Smith,  William,  87,  173 

Spear,  Mr.,  102,  103 

Speeches  by  E.  Cutler,  155-156,  177-179,  198-204,  245-246 

Speeches  by  W.  P.  Cutler,  App.,  321-326,  326-333 

Sprague,  Wilbur,  26 

Sproat,  Colonel  Ebenezer,  6,  7,  23,  201,  203n,  204 

Stacey,  Colonel  Wm.,  23,  203n 

Stanley,  Lieutenant  Thomas,  203n,  204 

St.  Clair,  Arthur,  31,  53,  55-60,  80,  81,  201 

Stoddard,  Henry,  114,  119,  246 

Stone,  Colonel  Augustus,  209,  213,  215,  224 

Stone,  Captain  Israel,  25n 

Stone,  Captain  Jonathan,  25n,  44,  203n 

Strickler,  Colonel,  102,  103 

Surveying,  12,  29,  30,  83,  84 

Tallmadge,  Colonel  Benj.,  29 

Taxation,  56,  113,  115-117,  123,  133,  134,  135,  141,  142,  143,147,150, 

152,  153,  154,  157-161,  162,  164-167,  208 
Thomas,  Philip  E.,  288 
Thomson,  James,  216 
Thompson,  Colonel  Joseph,  29,  203n 
Thurman,  Allen  G.,  285 
Tiffin,  Governor  Edward,  52n,  68,  74,  84 
Trimble.  Governor  Allen,  118n,  129,  136 
True,  Dr.  Jabez,  23,  257 
True,  Josiah,  50 
Tupper,  Major  Anselm,  203n 
Tupper,  General  Benj.,  6,  23,  81,  203n 
Tyler,  Major  Dean,  26,  29,  31,  203n 
Tyler,  Governor  John,  238 

Union  Railroad,  289 
Updegraff,  Misses,  100,  102 
Updegraff,  Nathan,  74,  76,  80n 
Utley,  Wm.  R.,  314 

Vandeburgh,  Abraham,  204 
Vandever,  Mr.,  92 


Index.  353 

Varnum,  General  J.  M.,  23,  201,  203n,  204 

Vause,  Colonel  Wm.,  103,  104 

Vinton,  Hon.  S.  F.,  157n,  179,  180,  181,  239 

Waddle,  John,  307,  312 

Walker,  George,  39n,  49 

Ward,  Henry  D.,  141 

Ward,  Xahum,  148n,  165,  190,  213,  215,  224,  228,  281 

War  of  1812,  104-107 

War  tax,  116 

Warner,  General  A.  J.,  311 

Warren  township,  86-89,  107,  254 

Washington,  Geo.,  5,  24,  81,  200,  202 

Waterford,  24,  25,  31,  38 

Wells,  Bazaleel,  34n,  68,  69,  70,  73,  78,  80n,  82n,  122 

Wells,  William  66 

Westonhaver,  Mr.,  67 

Wheeler,  Samuel,  151,  154 

Whipple,  Commodore  Abraham,  14-1,  264 

White  Eyes,  33.  34n 

White,  Mojor  Haffield,  7,  14,  26,  29,  201,  203n 

White,  Jacob,  53 

While,  Peletiah,  203n 

Whitten,  Wm.,  204 

Wilkins,  John,  204 

Williamson,  Sam.,  204 

Wilson,  David,  George,  and  William,  26,  29 

Wilson,  Noah  L.,  2s5,  2^6,  288.  3ii8 

Wilson,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  G.,  140.  177,   179 

Wolf  Creek  Mills,  25,  26,  38,  42 

Woodbridge,  Dudley,  167 

Woodbridge,  Hon.  G.  M.,  261,  262,  280 

Woodbridge,  Judge  D.,  23,  54,  55n,   169n 

Woods,  Elijah,  74,  76 

Worland,  Charles,  96,  97 

Worthington,  James  T.,  207 

Worihinglon,  Governor  Thomas,  53,  56,  58n,  70,  74,  151,  168 

Wright,  John  C,  185,  193 

Wyatt,  Joshua,  49 

York,  Pennsylvania,  99,  100 
Young,  Andrew,  2U7 
Young,  Rev.  David,  167 


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